


Textbooks and LARPING

by Trench_coats_and_denim_jeans



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dean is crushing so hard, Geek Dean, M/M, Nerd Castiel, Sam Is So Done, and Cas will never understand those references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-14
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-02-13 02:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2133927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trench_coats_and_denim_jeans/pseuds/Trench_coats_and_denim_jeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean's a closet geek who gets found out by Sam's weird study partner. Naturally mischief and mayhem ensue. Even without Gabriel's help.</p><p>AKA: The one where Dean won’t leave his brother’s study partner alone and Castiel just wants to be able to use the campus computers again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Warcraft is not a real word

Dean Winchester is seen as a fairly cool guy on campus. He is known to care about only two things; his brother and cars. This is exactly how he likes it. With this set up, he comes off as mysterious and alluring to the women, and cool to the guys. It's perfect in every way.

Of course, those close to him know the truth. Dean is in fact  _not_  just focused on cars and his brother's well-being. No, Dean is also interested in middle earth and going on quests, on the doctor and his companion, on Sherlock and John's epic bromance, and to a lesser extent he's is even interested in what new animes are being released this season.

Yes, Dean is a geek. A closet geek. Since he was young he's hidden his Star Wars and Star Trek posters and figures, because he could never pick a favorite between the two franchises. He has limited edition box sets and video games that no one else can get their hands on anymore.

His best friend is Charlie Bradbury, a computer hacker who showed him LARPING when they were little. She's the embodiment of the sister he should have had. His other closest friend is Kevin Tran, an Asian kid who is actually only 18 but already in his sophomore year with Dean and Charlie.

In public, though, they stay clear of Dean. They know the rules with him, ever since he was ostracized by his entire grade at five years old he wants  _no one_  to know the truth. Which, of course, is also a major component on why he is perpetually single. Women want him, and he wants them, but women are nosy and will eventually ask about his interests and want a commitment and that would mean no more WOW or fandoms and he is just not going to give that up.

This has lead to one or two one-night stands in his lifetime and his title of womanizer. He's not quite sure how he got the title of womanizer after only two women in his twenty years of life. People want others to fit into a specific category, and along with the aloof and uncaring façade he has up comes the title of womanizer.

That's fine though.

Better than them finding out the truth.

Yes, he works very hard to keep everything a secret, which is why Charlie is currently helping him dress in his knight outfit that is equipped with a very good helmet to hide his face. None of the LARPERS know who he is, outside of Queen Charlie's handmaiden. (A title he's still not sure how the hell he ended up with.)

As usual they go out when ready and drive to the meeting spot, greeted by friends who know nothing of him. He looks forward to these days so much, being able to drop all of his college work, his carefully constructed persona, and pretend to gank other geeks like him. Seven hours every week, that's what he gives himself for this.

Seven hours Sammy knows not to bother him, which is why the sudden appearance of a very sleek tan car in their parking lot is so odd. Everyone stops and looks at it, the most recent make of an impala equipped with all kinds of gizmos and gadgets that make the drivers ability pretty much unnecessary. The odd car gets stranger, though, when Sammy comes out of the passenger side.

Dean pales.

Then some boy with the embodiment of bed head comes out of the driver's side. Stunningly blue eyes landing on Dean instantly, before going over everyone else as well.

Dean's face heats up. In fear.

Some strange ass kid is seeing him LARPING. Of all fucking things.

Sammy then brings the mysterious boy with him down the hill to where Dean and Charlie are standing. Being the good brother he is, he makes sure to appear to be talking to Charlie when he mumbles.

"I need the key to the house."

Dean can actually feel his eye twitch. "There's this thing called a cell phone you little shit. You couldn't just text me and-" He stops mid-sentence, looking to the boy his brother brought, who is currently being 'interrogated' by a few knights and is blatantly ignoring them to stare Dean down curiously. "Who the hell is that?"

"Oh, that's Castiel. We were studying together when I realized I left my key at home, so he offered to bring me here." Sam explains. "Anyways, the key is all I need."

"It's in Charlie's tent." Dean says, gesturing towards a large tent nearby that is surrounded by people.

"Tell them I sent you in." Charlie adds, grinning at the whole situation. "Men, bring that boy to me!" She orders as the knights continue to try and get Castiel's attention while the kid just stares at everything around him in awe.

Eventually one, named Ash, scoops the boy up in his arms to bring him over. He lets out a small noise of surprise but pretty much chills immediately.

Does he get carried around a lot?

No, no, that's not the main focus here!

"Wait, what?" Dean whispers to her, "Don't bring him here, he goes to our school, he could recognize me!"

"Nah, there's no way. All you can see is your eyes, you're fine."

Soon the boy is set in front of Dean and Charlie, both of whom he examines thoroughly before looking to Charlie.

"Where is your king?"

"Don't have one." Charlie says proudly and Castiel's brows furrow together as he looks around again.

"How strangely modern of a concept, given your medieval themes here." He comments, "But of course seeing as how your outfit, along with other women's outfits, are strangely revealing for such a time period I would assume authenticity is not your goal."

"The clothing is based off of WOW, kiddo." Charlie explains, clearly enjoying this confused boy's questions.

"…Wow…?" Castiel tilts his head and stares at her curiously, "Wow, what?"

"Wow," Charlie grins, nudging Dean, "He doesn't know of World of Warcraft."

A look of pure confusion comes to the boy, as though they are speaking in a foreign language. Well, Charlie. Dean is making sure not to talk. Just in Case.

"Warcraft is not a real word, how can there be a world of it?" Castiel asks and Charlie bursts out laughing. Dean just gets annoyed, though, because fuck this kid Warcraft is totally a word

"Oh my god this kid is great!" She pats him on the head, "And you're friends with Sammy, huh?"

"We are acquainted…" Castiel hesitates, clearly unsure of where he stands with Dean's little brother. He then turns his attention to Dean, stepping into the man's personal space and staring into his eyes before he mumbles. "Are you Dea-?"

A hand quickly clasps over Castiel's mouth as Dean panics. "Wh-what makes you think I'm that guy?" Dean asks, despite his hand preventing the teen from answering.

Castiel easily removes it, though, showcasing a surprising amount of strength for a short teen. "We came here to procure a set of house keys from Sam's brother, and you are the only man he approached."

"Well, I'm not." Dean groans.

"Why are you lying?" Castiel asks slowly, as if in awe of Dean actually wanting to deny he does this stuff.

"Castiel!" Sam calls, easily grabbing the smaller teen's wrist and tugging him away from Dean. "I got what we came here for, let's leave these weirdos to their fun."

Castiel continues to turn around and stare at Dean curiously, "Yes, of course…"

Dean is terrified. Someone outside of his very small circle has found out the truth. He doesn't know this guy, and clearly the kid is on confusing ground with Sam.

Will Sam tell him to keep quiet?

Yeah, but only if Sam knows he knows.

There is clearly only one solution to all of this, he has to talk to the kid himself.

In the meantime, though, there's no harm in beating on a few orcs.

When he gets home later that night, Dean storms through the door and to his brother's room. Inside the boy is lying on his bed, textbooks all over him as he works on his homework. Clearly the little shit is unaware of the hell he has unleashed on his loving big brother.

"You bitch!" Dean hisses and Sammy looks up to him confused.

"What the hell is it now, jerk?"

"That weird ass kid with the staring problem you brought with you today knows who I am!"

Sammy laughs. Actually fucking laughs. "Castiel? Oh my god that's great! He didn't say anything, but I guess it makes sense. I did tell him we were getting keys to the house."

"You didn't even tell him to keep his mouth shut?" Dean groans, "I'm going to kill you one day, Sammy. I really am."

"Nah, you won't." Sammy shrugs it off, "Don't worry about it, Castiel doesn't really talk about other people's business. If you really want to talk to him about it, though, go check out the library tomorrow. When he isn't in class he's over there working on stuff."

Dean rolls his eyes. Great, a nerd. Figures Sammy would befriend a nerd.

"Do you know where the library is?" Sammy teases, earning himself a dirty look from his brother before the older Winchester leaves his doorway.

Of course he knows where the library is, he's not an idiot. Just because he doesn't use it doesn't mean he doesn't know it. The library is that huge building to the left of the classroom buildings.

…Or what it that building near the gym?

Okay, so he doesn't go there. Has never gone there. That doesn't mean anything though, he can get a cute girl to show him where it is. Yeah, he will get a cute girl to show him, flirt with her a little, find the kid and tell him to keep quiet. Maybe threaten him if he needs to. Sure, the kid has a pretty firm grip but he's  _Dean Winchester_. He could easily kick the little kid's ass.

Yep, Castiel won't take up even an hour of his time.

It's just one of Sammy's nerdy friends, anyways.

A/N: OHOH I should not be writing this. Yet here we are. I love Destiel too much gotta write more. Also, I don't know much about LARPING and WOW...so...like...yeah. Any help with those would be great.


	2. It isn't stalking if there's a book in your hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is personally offended by how much of a shut in Castiel is.

He was stupid to get his hopes up.

Dean cannot find a cute girl when he's done with classes. Literally no girls are around because it's six at night. Hell, this Castiel kid probably isn't even around anymore. He does find a directory for the campus, at least, and figures out the library is actually closer to the technology department. The department Dean passes all the damn time to get to his automotive one.

He rolls his eyes and heads to the library. As expected, it's quiet. Librarians are checking their watches and dozing off behind the counter, a few students are hurriedly typing up essays, and then on the third floor is a lone student. The kid he's looking for, Castiel, who is sleeping.

With his face literally in a book.

Dean finds it endearing, against his better judgment.

The kid is sitting there, his face hidden in a book about-embalming? Creepy- and all you can see are his ears poking out above his arms that are mostly covering his face from the light rather than truly cushioning him.

His hair is even more of a mess than yesterday, apparently the kid doesn't own a brush.

What's really cute about it-not that Dean thinks anything is cute about it- but what could be _seen_  as cute about it by someone else is the boy's breathing. It's low and heavy, just on the edge of being quiet snores.

The kid is so far gone in the library at six in the evening and somehow that is both hilarious and adorable.

He almost takes a picture.

For, like, blackmailing purposes or something.

Dean's going to wake him up, though, because he's here on a mission. That is until he takes true stock of the picture before him. Finally taking his eyes off the sleeping teen he looks on the rest of the large table and notices it is _covered_ in books and notes and printed off PowerPoints. The kid is clearly working himself to death, so being the generous man he is Dean decides to let him sleep while he reads some of the kid's books.

There all pretty creepy, in his opinion. One is funeral law, which states what you need to do with cremains, bodies, etc. without breaking the laws. Another is restorative art, which Dean figured would be how to restore old pieces of artwork. A pretty cool thing to know.

Dean was wrong. So very, very wrong. Restorative art is actually the art of restoring a person's appearance after death. Replacing bones with PVC pipe, recreating a face with certain shit-he didn't really read it. Finally he finds one he can stomach-the history of funerals. There are no gross pictures, just interesting facts and reasons behind certain funerary (a word he has now been taught by these books) customs around the world.

Before he knows it an hour has gone by and Castiel is slowly waking up.

In the weirdest fucking way possible.

First, his shoulders jump a little, as if the act of waking up was frightening. Then his fingers flex as the rest of him remains perfectly still. Next, his arms stretch across the table until his fingertips graze something unfamiliar-Dean's arm.

This makes him bolt upright and look to the stranger in complete and utter confusion.

The kid is apparently a master at not knowing what the fuck is going on.

"…Can I help you?" Castiel asks slowly, studying Dean for a moment until it clicks. "Hello, Dean. Or are you still pretending not to be Dean?"

"Nope, I'm Dean."

"Might I ask why you were watching me sleep?"

Dean laughs a little and smirks at the boy, "Am I not attractive enough to pull an Edward Cullen?"

Castiel stares at him blankly, "I do not know who that is."

"Seriously?" Dean gapes, "Do you live under a fucking rock?"

"No, I simply have more important things to focus on than a strange man named Edward Cullen that's apparently attractive and interested in stalking people." Castiel counters and Dean has to admit, that's fair. He wouldn't choose to know that story existed either-wait.

"Wow, ego much? I wasn't stalking you." Dean scoffs.

"Wow as in the exclamation of surprise or the acronym for your strange pastime?" Castiel asks, making Dean pale and do a quick once-over of the area to ensure no one is around.

"Haha, about that…" Dean brings his chair closer to whisper to Castiel, who leans forward as well and brings their faces extremely close. So close that he has a clear view of those amazingly blue eyes and pouty lips and did he say bedhead before because it actually looks more like sex hair from here. "What are you doing?" He asks, deciding to distract himself from his increasingly gay thoughts about the kid.

Does thinking no homo count?

"You are whispering to me, correct?"

"…Yeah…"

"It is protocol to lean towards the person when they whisper to you." Castiel explains, as if he is telling Dean some scientific fact, and Dean can't help but wonder just how many times the kid has actually been whispered to.

Probably a resounding zero, from the looks of it.

"…Right…" Dean mumbles before moving his head back a little and whispering. "What you saw yesterday didn't happen."

"Yes it did, I was right there."

"No, no, no, I mean…keep it a secret."

Castiel stares at him for a moment, tilting his head to the side and making Dean have to move away more because damn this kid has no grasp on personal space. "You do not want people to know you are, as Sam would put it, a geek?"

"Shut up!" Dean huffs before frowning, "And no, nobody can know so keep your little mouth shut."

"Are you ashamed of it…?" Castiel asks, leaning into his personal space some more and making Dean's face flush. The kid is practically off his chair now as Dean panics a little, sinking down in his own seat.

"Um, well, yeah, I'm-whoatheretiger!" Dean gasps as Castiel's hand reaches towards his crotch, grabbing the textbook he didn't realize he was still holding in his lap.

Castiel then proceeds to look at Dean like _he's_  the weirdo.

Fuck this kid.

"Well," Castiel begins, sitting back in his seat and leaning away from Dean again as he looks over the book, "I do not see why you feel a need to be ashamed, there are plenty out there with stranger pastimes," Those damn blue eyes look back up at Dean, "But I will keep quiet."

"So, um, what on earth are you doing in the library at six on a Friday night?" Dean asks and Castiel shrugs, carefully flipping through the book the older man was reading earlier when he was _not_  creeping on the teen.

"I do not party, and my friend Balthazar is currently participating in lewd and licentious behavior with…around…twelve women…" Castiel explains not bothering to even look to Dean anymore. Something Dean isn't sure he should see as rude or a blessing. "But I have a question for you as well." He says, catching Dean's interest.

"Oh yeah?"

"Why are you still here?" The teen asks and Dean begins to glare at the boy who remains unaware.

Of course he would know if he'd look up from his stupid fucking book.

"That's a damn good question. We're done here, so I'm going." Dean huffs, standing up before Castiel finally looks at him again, having gone through the entire textbook.

"Thank you for not writing graffiti in my books." Castiel says, throwing Dean off.

"Wha-? Why the hell would I mess with your textbooks?" Dean asks, "Just what do you think I am?"

Castiel frowns, "It is nothing against you, Dean, but usually when I wake up from falling asleep in here there is graffiti on various items I left on the table." He nods to Dean, "So thank you for not doing so."

"Wow, this is college why the hell are people being such assholes to you?"

"It is usually my brother just messing with me."

"Well he sounds like an A-class dick." Dean huffs and Castiel's lips might have just curved slightly up for a brief second.

"He means well…" Castiel frowns, "Probably…?"

"So he's like the quintessential older brother in teen comedies?" Dean asks and the younger boy looks back down at his book in what appears to be embarrassment.

"I do not really watch television…" Castiel mumbles awkwardly.

"Wait…like…as in you only watch it once and a while? Or…?"

"I have not watched television since I was fourteen."

Dean gapes at the truly horrifying fact someone could go so long without TV. "W-wait…do you watch stuff on the computer?"

"I do not have a computer of my own, I only use the campus computers for school work." Castiel explains and Dean is completely confused.

"Jesus Christ! Are you fucking Amish or something?" Dean asks, making Castiel frown.

"My father and eldest brother said it is important to focus on your studies. Computers and televisions are distracting." Castiel explains, "I do not want to upset them by becoming idle." He shrugs, "Besides, I do not find it to be that big of a loss anyways."

Dean is at a loss for words. What does this kid _do_  all day?

Okay, so looking around the table it's fairly obvious what the kid does all day, but how is that any fun?

"Castie-" Dean gets cut off by his phone beeping with a message from Sammy. "Ah, Sammy wants me to grab dinner…" He mumbles before looking to Castiel. "You wanna come?"

Castiel's eyes widen, "What?"

"Dinner with the Winchesters," Dean grins, "A break from books."

He looks torn, like he really wants to go but something is stopping him for whatever reason. "I doubt Sam wants me to interrupt your time together, besides, I must return to my apartment as well." Castiel mumbles, "My brother is no doubt waiting."

Dean goes to ask him something, but before the words can leave his mouth the kid is already on his way down the stairs. "…Weird kid." He mumbles to himself before heading home as well.

When he arrives, with pizza, Sammy comes running up and grabs the box, quickly digging in.

"So, how did it go with Castiel?" He asks between bites and Dean shrugs.

"The kid is weird as fuck, Sammy. You know he doesn't watch TV or use the computer for anything but _school_? How the hell does he let loose?"

Sammy frowns, "Hmm…I don't think he does let loose." He shrugs, "I don't really know him too well, but he's only got the one friend and he is on good terms with those in his major…but I don't think he has tried to befriend them. Or anyone. I'd imagine Balthazar probably bugged him until they became friends."

"So he is a loner, huh?" Dean asks, already aware the kid is very much not _willingly_  alone. "No, that's not it…" The look on the kid's face when he invited him to dinner was one of pure hope, and then fear. Most likely a fear that Sammy wouldn't want him there.

"He's socially impaired." Sammy explains, "Which is too bad, he does mean well."

"Sounds like he needs a helping hand." Dean says and Sammy groans.

"Dean, for the love of god, don't harass Castiel. He wouldn't know how to handle it."

"He'll be fine, I'm just gonna show him some fun."

The younger Winchester sighs and looks to Dean, "Please don't be mean to him, I like him."

"Don't worry, kiddo, I'll be the sweetest guy he's met. Totally sweep the kid off his feet."

Sammy raises a brow, "…Really now…?"

A/N: I'm sorry this story is starting out pretty...dull....or slow...or something. Idk, something about it is irking me. It'll pick up though. Just had to get the core premises done.  _Now_  comes the fun part I promise!


	3. The boring, average, not-so-extraordinary Castiel Novak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is out of sight, but he's certainly not out of mind

Castiel groans as his alarm clock goes off at ten in the morning. He crawls out of his bed and drags his feet across the carpet until he reaches the kitchen where his brother is waiting with coffee. While Castiel is a studious person, he is by no means an early riser, which is why all of his classes are after noon. Ten is the earliest he can get up and function.

"Cassie, you are looking beautiful this morning. Like every morning." His brother, Gabriel, teases with a wide grin. He knows his brother hates that nickname, really Castiel has yet to be given a nickname he enjoyed.

"Please stop talking." Castiel grumbles, taking a long sip from his coffee.

"Someone's edgy today. Something happen at school?" Gabriel asks, and although he is trying to come off light, Castiel can hear a hint of concern in his voice.

"I met a strange man the other day." Castiel begins, staring at his coffee as he recalls the night before, and the day before that.

Gabriel looks at him curiously. "How strange?"

Deciding not to mention their initial meeting, Castiel goes with the strangeness at the library instead. "He watched me sleep in the library."

"Whoa! Someone's got a stalker!" Gabriel teases, "Who is this little creeper your big, strong, brother has to knock into place?"

"Dean Winchester." Castiel mumbles, taking another drink and heading to the fridge to make something to eat.

"Sam's older brother?" Gabriel sputters, "Seriously?  _The_  Dean Winchester was creeping on you?"

"He had to talk to me about something he deemed very important," Castiel explains as vaguely as possible before looking to his brother, "Why? Is he well known?"

Gabriel laughs, "You bet your ass he is! He drives an old impala that is in impeccable shape, is lusted after by a shit ton of women on campus and no small amount of men either, and adores his baby brother-as everyone should." He adds and Castiel frowns, uncomfortable with his older brother's interest in his younger study partner.

"I see." Castiel mutters, unimpressed. Whether Dean is cool, or a geek, he honestly has no interest in seeing him again. Someone who muddles up history just for….whatever he and the others at that strange place get out of it, is not worth Castiel's attention.

Yet here he is.

Thinking about him.

"So, why is he on your mind? Creeped out at being watched while you sleep? Because let me tell you, Cassie, you do your fair share of sleep watching as well." Gabriel points out.

"No, he needed to discuss something with me so I understand. It was very polite of him to wait, and not make one joke about my major." Castiel murmurs, "He was odd, but nice. A little too…pushy, though."

"He's pretty attractive, must be in the Winchester genes, maybe you've got a little crush going on Cassie?" Gabriel teases and Castiel pales at the thought.

"No." He flat out denies, "It is not something like that. He is just…peculiar. He tried to invite me to dinner at his house."

"What?" Gabriel gasps, "Someone invited you to something? Damn, kid, why didn't you go?"

"I do not know Dean, and I did not want to impose on Sam." Castiel mumbles. He did want to go, honestly, but the thought of going alone to a new house with relatively unfamiliar people terrified him. Along with said people not wanting him to stay.

"How is it that you have me and Balthazar as your closest pals and yet you are awkward as fuck?" Gabriel sighs.

"You are my brother, Gabriel, which is not a 'pal'."

"Shut up, we're buddies baby bro."

"Besides, I have followed father and Michael's rules which means I have not participated in any of the scandalous activities you and Balthazar have." Castiel points out, cooking them up some scrambled eggs.

"Not even Michael and daddy dearest live lives as repressed as yours. Twenty bucks says you wouldn't recognize a sexual act if it was happening in your face. Michael had sex the first time when he was seventeen. Also, you know, fairly certain he has watched television in the past five years."

"School comes first, I choose not to have distractions like television and internet." Castiel grumbles, tired of explaining himself on this.

"I suppose, you never harp on my lifestyle so it'd be dickish of me to do it to you."

"Yes, it would." He agrees quickly, making Gabriel pout.

"Well, anyways, got any plans today?" Gabriel asks and Castiel shrugs.

"The plans I always have, unless Balthazar wishes to do something today after classes."

"So the library," Gabriel sighs, "I swear you are there more than your own house, Cassie."

"Yes, well I do not have to worry about being bothered in the library, while here you are in my room every ten minutes because you are bored." Castiel points out, finishing his food and heading to the bathroom, "I am going to shower and leave. Would you like me to bring anything special home for dinner?"

"Nah, I can make something!" Gabriel grins at him and Castiel narrows his eyes as he studies his brother.

"…Cake is not dinner."

"It is some places."

"No. No one does that, stop." Castiel says before turning and going into the bathroom for a shower.

After a finishing his classes Castiel grabs a snack from the café inside their campus library and sits at a table outside to eat it. He pulls out a textbook and begins reading about the proper way to dispose of cremains, and all the extensive ways one must cover their ass when dealing with them. It is a shame that funeral homes have to be so paranoid. Especially with abandoned cremains.

They must be in a vault away from the funeral home so any damage to that building will not affect them in the event someone wants them someday.

Castiel wonders if this is what his father and Michael are doing with him, keeping him so sealed off from dangerous things just in case they need him in the future. Lucifer certainly will not be taking over the family business, since he is a famous singer now, and Gabriel would sooner pack his bags and move to Europe than take on that amount of responsibility.

Perhaps his father and Michael wish to keep him so wrapped up in his studies so that he does not go out and experiment, perhaps losing a part of him that as a whole makes him valuable to them. Like cremains to a family.

It is still just a bunch of ashes, though, and even if he changed he would still be Castiel. Simply, perhaps a less boring Castiel.

It doesn't really bother him, being considered boring.

Probably.

Except it totally does and all he can hear in his head is Dean and his promise to make his life more interesting. Castiel cannot help but wonder how the man would go about that. Taking Castiel to those strange gatherings? Or making him watch a show Dean really likes?

He can't particularly say either of those is an attractive idea to him.

Perhaps Dean will go the other route, then, since he is apparently known to be popular. Parties, drinking, movies, and even fights?

That sounds a million times worse.

Castiel sighs and pokes at his pasta salad, eying the same phrase in his text book over and over again.

 _The cremains are for the family, above all else_.

And then he realizes he is comparing himself to a pile of ashes of all things and he quickly slams the textbook shut, only to hear someone plop down beside him seconds later.

"So, last night during my ménage à-what's French for twelve?" A familiar voice, Balthazar's, asks without preamble.

Castiel sighs, "Douze." He mumbles, "Although 'ménage à trois' actually refers to a domestic relationship between three people. A polyamorous arrangement, as it were, rather than an orgy where there are no emotional connections."

"Touché, Cassie. Although I must say I felt quite the connection with girl five and girl ten." Balthazar grins, "Anyways, during my 'orgy' a lovely woman informed me that Dean Winchester has been asking around about you all weekend."

Castiel pulls a look at his friend one could only describe as pure disgust, "Why on earth would you be discussing me during sex, Balthazar?"

"Nothing better than discussing your best friend and Dean Winchester during sex. Gets you where you need to be."

"Flaccid?"

Balthazar bursts into laughter and pats his friend on the back, "Look at you having a sense of humor, Cassie!" Once the laughter subsides he eyes Castiel, reading him in a way only Balthazar can, "So what's bugging you, Cassie?"

Castiel shakes his head, looking down at his book, "Nothing."

"Something in there upsetting you?" Balthazar asks, scooping up the book and flipping through it, "Finally weirded out by your own major, love?"

"There is nothing to be uncomfortable with about my major, Balthazar." Castiel defends, snatching the book back, "Besides, it is probably the most interesting thing about me."

Balthazar stares at him for a minute, searching Castiel's face to see if he truly means that, and upon reaching a conclusion he is not happy with he glares at the teen. "That's the most idiotic thing you have said. Ever. Cassie you are easily the most fascinating person out there, which is probably why Dean Winchester is so intent on finding out more about you." He says, using the tone Castiel knows better than to argue with. "Now, share with the class how that man even got you on his radar."

"I am study partners with his brother." Castiel shrugs, "He needed to talk to me on Friday about something and upon discovering I do not watch television or spend idle time on the computer he decided to make my life more 'fun'. However he intends to do so."

Balthazar smirks at his friend, "If you're lucky it will involve copious amounts of whipped cream and a lot of fists digging into sheets."

The brunette simply stares at him blankly, trying to figure out how those two things go together. "I would not be bribed into helping him make his bed simply with desserts, Balthazar, I am not Gabriel."

His friend chokes on his laughter this time. Once he regains his composure he shakes his head and pats Castiel on the back. "Poor, poor Dean. Soon he will know the pain of trying to get with an idiot like you."

"I highly doubt those are his intentions, Balthazar."

"Hey, you're cute, you never know."

Castiel frowns, "I am not cute."

Balthazar leans in, "Alright, then how's bloody adorable?"

"…Much, much worse."

A/N: ...I washed dishes at work for three hours straight the other day and now my hands hurt and it is so unfair, I didn't sign up for pain. I signed up for money.


	4. Pushing, in moderation, leads to success

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean's persistant.  
> It pays off.  
> A little.

Textbooks and LARPing

Chapter Four: Pushing, in moderation, leads to success

For the last week Castiel has suffered from Dean Winchester's self-appointed mission. Dean has figured out the boy's favorite spot in the library and covered it with strange paraphernalia. Monday was a bunch of pictures of women in shows and movies. Not what they do or anything like that, just pictures of them with their character and actor names. Mostly in odd outfits that reveal a lot. He has no problem with that, as everyone should express themselves freely, he simply does not see how these pictures will make him interested in television.

Tuesday there were pictures of weapons, and their titles, used in different shows. There is a strange screwdriver, called a sonic screwdriver, from a show called Doctor Who. Castiel must admit that one caught his attention. What does a doctor need with a screwdriver? Why is it 'sonic'? Perhaps the show is actually about a world without doctors and this weapon fights any ailments people might have. He ran his thoughts by Sam, who simply smiled at him with a strange fondness and assured him that is not what it is.

Wednesday was men. All kinds of men ranging from rugged and violent to petite and intelligent. Castiel is fairly certain Dean displayed these pictures to show male role models in television, but again they were in odd poses. Needless to say they must deal with a lot of rain and heat in their shows.

Thursday was animals. There were mostly mythical animals, such as werewolves and dragons, but there were still a few dogs and even some cats here and there. That day's pictures were the most pleasant and Castiel in fact kept those pictures rather than throwing them out like the other days. He has a soft spot for animals.

Friday is couples. Various types of couples, to Castiel's surprise. Homosexual, heterosexual, polyamorous, there is even a picture of a man with highly defined cheek bones in a scarf that he assumes represents asexuality. There were also bi-racial, bi-species, and other strange pairings that Castiel had to admit were interesting. His personal favorite were two men with messy hair staring into each other's eyes with a sweet, yet intense, sort of longing. On the labels for that one were 'human and angel'.

Today is Saturday, though, a day free of Dean's random pictures. Yet somehow not free of Dean. Why, you ask?

The man in question is currently in the library. Doing what, you ask?

Talking to a blonde woman and a few men about something.

Why is this bad, you ask?

Firstly, you ask a lot of questions. Which is good, inquisitive minds expand faster than idle ones.

Secondly, because said group of people are so close that if Dean turns his head just right-

Like that angle he is turning it at right now-

Why must heads be able to move to such a(n admittedly slight) degree?

Needless to say, Castiel is seen and Dean is suddenly hovering over the table with some big grin on his face.

"Hello, Dean."

"Hey, Castiel." Dean slides into the chair across from him, "How'd you like those pictures?"

"You have a very good quality printer at home. Not running out of ink after 125 fully colored pictures." Castiel says and Dean laughs.

"I didn't use my own printer, Castiel, don't be ridiculous. I used the libraries."

That's fair, Castiel must admit, they are allowed to print off whatever they need from the library computers. Although colored prints are limited to far less than 125 in a week.

"How did you manage that?" The teen asks, truly curious. Is Dean actually so popular he has ties in the library department? Not even Castiel has those. Of course he has never really tried, so there is that.

"Well," Dean leans over the table to whisper, so Castiel leans forward as well. He will never understand why this surprises Dean so much. Nonetheless, after regaining his composure, Dean continues, "I have a friend who can hack the schools computers. Every day I used 25 different student's accounts to print off 25 colored pictures."

Castiel is impressed, and although he won't say it out loud something in his expression must give it away because Dean is practically beaming with pride now. "You are surprisingly devious, Dean Winchester."

This seemingly surprises Dean, even if it is not necessarily a compliment, making him let out an awkward laugh before flashing Castiel a strange look. "There's a lot about me that's surprising, Castiel Novak."

Castiel lets out a small hum in agreement before sitting back in his chair. "Well, regarding your ill-gotten pictures, they have not convinced me."

"What? But those were the hottest actors, the coolest weapons, the weirdest couples, and the most badass animals! How could you not want to watch those shows now?" Dean asks, horrified that Castiel isn't convinced.

"Dean, if I am to break my cardinal rule about not getting distracted by television, you must provide me with things I do not easily see in advertisements around town. Tell me things about the shows that will intrigue me. If you can do that, if you can truly catch my interest with plots or characters, I will try one show or movie." Castiel relents, "One." He emphasizes.

Yes, he can watch one movie or show. There is not real problem in that, honestly. It will get Dean off his back and ensure that he never gets the odd looks he received from Balthazar while flipping through the photographs of men covered in water or lacking shirts-or both.

"Deal," Dean smirks, making Castiel uneasy, "But under one condition; we watch this show or movie at my place."

"I suppose there is no harm in that." Castiel relents before he gets up to leave.

"I'll step up my game and blow your mind, promise!" The man exclaims and Castiel simply nods.

"I will see you later, Dean." He calls to the man as he heads off, leaving Dean to think.

It takes three days.

Three days of peace and quiet and then suddenly Dean is waking Castiel from a nap in the library. The grin on the man's face is a little endearing, but the large amount of printouts he has are certainly not.

"Dean what is this?"

"My presentation." Dean explains, laying out printed PowerPoints in front of Castiel. "I compiled ones I like the best and then some that are pretty much internationally agreed to be amazing."

The teen looks over the PowerPoints before picking them up and reading them in order. To his surprise it is very well thought out. It seems to favor a show called In the Flesh, and an anime called Attack on Titan the most. At least those seem to have the most diversity that he has seen so far.

They actually sound interesting.

He stares at the power point in horror. This means Dean technically won and he has to watch something with him. Neither of these, though, they are television series and are far too long. There are movies in the list, so he will chose from those. He'll just watch some movie and be done with it.

"I suppose you win." Castiel relents, setting the papers down, "I guess I will watch a movie or something."

Dean smirks, "So what did you in?"

"These." Castiel answers, holding up the PowerPoints for In the Flesh and Attack on Titan.

"Awesome, we can watch one of those, you know!" Dean offers and Castiel shakes his head.

"I am not going to watch a whole series, just give me a movie to watch." He mutters, annoyed that this pushy man won. This will not end well for him, he can already tell.

"Captain America, my house, Saturday." Dean says with a grin. "Dinner and a movie. I'd have a bunch of people over with us, but I'll ease you into socializing."

Castiel sighs, "Can I just watch it at home on my own?"

"The deal was my house, Castiel. It's not fun if I can't see your reactions."

"You are an odd man, Dean Winchester."

Dean scoffs, "I don't wanna hear that from a nerd like you."

Castiel looks through the PowerPoints again, "You certainly like your titles, don't you?" He asks, "I bet you are the type who purposefully only dated the cheerleaders in high school." His eyes gloss over the pages, descriptions like 'cheerleader', 'lesbian', 'nerd', 'jock', 'geek', and various others litter them. It's childish.

Dean of course doesn't understand what he's getting at, and simply puts on the most flirtatious look Castiel has seen on him yet. "Upset I won't date a nerd like you?"

"Quite the contrary, I am elated you will not look at me like that." Castiel admits, "You're annoying enough as it is, I can only imagine the aggravation that would come with being courted by a man like you."

"No, Castiel, by all means, tell me how you really feel." Dean mocks and Castiel rolls his eyes.

"I am not one to use the language that comes to mind when I think of you."

"Wow, some way to talk to your new friend."

Castiel stares at him in awe, "We're…friends?"

Dean grins, "Definitely. I am your aggravating friend. Right?"

"I…guess…" A strange heat comes to Castiel's face and he can't look at Dean for a few minutes after that. It's a childish reaction, but for the second person to ever actually call you a friend it makes sense, right?

Right. It is completely reasonable.

A little sad, but reasonable.

"Holy shit you're blushing!" Dean laughs, "Who blushes at being called a friend? Either you are the most innocent person I have ever met or you want me 'courting' you more than you let on." He teases and Castiel smacks him over the head with the collection of papers Dean brought.

"Do not be rude. It is a completely reasonable reaction."

"Yeah, for nerds." Dean teases, earning another smack.

A/N: I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but I have redone it five times, so I apologize if it sucks. School and work and life are conspiring to fuck me over so this is the best I have for now. I'll do better next time, I promise! I've even got plans written out (that I may or may not have made during my Funeral Law class).


	5. Addictions can start with just a small taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel likes movies, and doesn't hate Dean, two things he does not approve of

Castiel arrives at Dean's apartment, standing at the door for a good four minutes working up the courage to knock. He was invited (forced?) into coming over today, at this time, so it's not like he is unwanted here. Still, he stands there, all kinds of scenarios running through his head. Unexpected visitors could be there such as a family member or friend in need, or a sex buddy, or some sort of anything that he wouldn't want Castiel coming in during.

So he stand there, working out possible scenarios where his presence would he highly unwanted. Then comes the possibility of Dean simply joking with him, but he's about 90% sure that isn't the case so he finally knocks only to have the door immediately fly open.

"For god sakes, Castiel, I thought you would stand there for an hour." Dean groans and Castiel blushes.

"You just watched me stand at your door?" He asks, making Dean laugh.

"Your flustered expression was great, I couldn't help it."

"Some friend you are." Castiel groans and Dean chokes on his laugh before gawking at him.

"Wow, little Castiel is making a joke! How adorable!" Dean teases as Castiel walks past him inside. "By all means, make yourself at home."

Castiel ignores the comment and looks at him curiously, "Will we be eating during this movie or should I wait until after?"

"Oh by all means, let's eat. I promised dinner and a movie, if you remember. So, what do you want? Subs? Pizza? Something fancy like salad?"

"In what world is salad 'fancy'?"

Dean shrugs, "I don't know, toss a fruity French name on it and its fancy. Right?"

"I don't even know where to begin on how stupid that statement is." Castiel groans, "What even makes you think I require, or even eat, high-end meals?"

"I googled your ass, and found out your dad is some dude who owns a huge corporation that runs a lot of things behind the scenes." Dean explains, "I bet you lived in a mansion where chefs cook everything for you before moving here, right?"

"No, my father is frugal. We lived in a very nice home but it only had the necessary amount of rooms. Our meals were cooked by my eldest brother Michael for as long as I can remember, before he taught me to cook as well." Castiel explains.

"Even still, I doubt your meals consisted of mac and cheese or anything pedestrian like that." Dean counters and Castiel shrugs.

"We ate things like that as well." He heads to the living room and sits down. "Now hurry up and order that food so I can watch this movie and get it all over with."

"Wow, contain your enthusiasm kiddo." Dean rolls his eyes and sits down beside him.

"I've got a lot going on."

"The library is not 'a lot going on', Castiel."

Castiel flushes, "I-I have other things going on in my life!"

"No, you don't." Dean shoots him down, "Just sit still and enjoy the movie, you pain in the ass."

Castiel pouts and crosses his arms, "You are the pain."

"Ohoh! He pouts, too!" Dean mocks, poking Castiel's cheek, "You're so lifelike sometimes."

"Stop touching me, Dean."

The man shrugs and starts the movie. "Try not to fall too in love with the movie."

"I doubt that will be a problem." Castiel scoffs as it begins. He starts it off, waiting for it to bore him.

Except it doesn't.

He finds himself enthralled with the movie, loving the Captain America and his admirably loyal friend Bucky. To his own shock he finds himself even gasping when Steve kisses a woman who is not Peggy.

"Wow, you look so insulted." Dean laughs, "It's just a kiss."

"But, but he and Peggy should be kissing!" Castiel protests, "You kiss someone you love, not just some attractive perso…" He stops and side-eyes Dean, "Oh wait, I'm talking to Dean Winchester, I'm sure you haven't even been in love let alone respect the idea."

"Hey now, I'm not some whore." Dean groans.

"That's not what I heard. Although I wouldn't be surprised with how much of a nerd you are." Castiel muses, "I bet you do not stay with anyone out of fear of them finding out, right? That must be awful, but really I think you could find a woman who likes you even as a nerd. Aren't they now sort of the popular thing? Of course you can't share your first kiss with them, which is too bad…a first kiss should always be with the person you love…like Peggy and Steve…should have."

"The Disney idea of everyone sharing their first kiss with their true love? Come on, Castiel, that never happens in real life." Dean sighs, "Attraction and lust are too strong. People succumb to that easily. Even Captain America isn't immune."

"I've never had a problem with that." Castiel objects and Dean laughs.

"Are you even capable of attraction and lust?"

"Probably…?" The teen muses, "I'm sure eventually."

"Mmhmm." Dean mumbles before they go silent and watch the movie again.

It isn't until the end that Castiel speaks up again. Of course, at the end he is pissed.

"Damnit, Dean. You didn't say Bucky died. And Steve never got to dance with Peggy. Now she's too old, her hips are probably too fragile to dance, this movie is ridiculous…" Castiel huffs and Dean laughs.

"There's more, you know. A whole series." Dean smirks and leans closer to the teen, "We could…watch it, you know. All of them. Ironman, Avengers, the other Captain America…"

Castiel looks conflicted for a moment, "I suppose…we could watch a few more…"

Several hours, and a tearful moment of seeing Bucky again, later ends in the two of them asleep on the couch with Castiel using Dean's shoulder as a pillow. Sam comes home and sees it, Dean laying on the couch with Castiel sprawled on top of him. He's not entirely sure how it happened, and he's not entirely sure he wants to know. Sighing to himself, Sam goes to his room.

"It's too late to deal with this mess…" He mumbles to himself before going to sleep as well.

The next morning Castiel wakes up to a face full of chest and pales as he sits up, straddling Dean Winchester. He remembers dozing off on the man's shoulder last night, but how the hell did they end up like that?

Well, gravity had no small part in it, obviously. Just so long as nobody else knows…

"Getting ready to give my brother a good morning kiss?" Sam asks from the entrance and Castiel lets out a highly undignified shriek before falling off the couch unceremoniously.

"Th-that's not…I wasn't…it wasn't…" Castiel stutters out and Sam laughs.

"It's alright, I know you just ended up like that. Anyways, wanna eat some breakfast? I made eggs." Sam offers as Castiel gets off the floor, pale.

"N-no…I am going to head home, so, um, have a good day." Castiel says before hurrying out.

"Maybe…I teased him too much…?" Sam muses before Dean wakes up.

"Where the hell is Castiel?" Dean asks and Sam shrugs.

"He ran out the door."

"Why…?" Dean asks and Sam laughs.

"Don't worry about it."

Castiel hurries inside his apartment where Gabriel is waiting, all smiles and impending mockery. "Please don't."

"All night with Dean, huh? I'm jealous, getting to sleep over with a Winchester, although that one certainly wouldn't be my choice…" Gabriel shrugs, "I take it you liked the movie? How many did you watch?"

"I did…we watched…a lot of them…" Castiel admits, frowning. "I should have never gone over…what am I going to do?" He laments, "I could become distracted from school!"

"OH no!" Gabriel gasps, "Next thing you know, you will be listening to rock and roll and associating with women!"

"This isn't funny, Gabriel!" Castiel's voice shakes, "Dean is determined to get me into all kinds of things that will take me away from my duties as a Novak."

"Come on, now! They don't need to know. Besides, it's not illegal to have a little fun. If you want to hang out with Dean more, go ahead." Gabriel assures him, "You…do like hanging out with him, right?"

Castiel blushes a little. "Um…I don't think I will be hanging out with him anymore…"

Gabriel smirks, "Ohhh? Something happen?"

Castiel goes a brighter red, "N-no…no! Just watching movies and eating pizza…"

"Hmmmm? That reaction begs to differ." The elder Novak pulls out his phone, "Might there have been some flirting? Cuddling? Late night…spooning?" He asks, holding out a picture Sam texted him of Castiel and Dean asleep.

"Delete it, Gabriel." Castiel commands and Gabriel laughs.

"Nah, it's my new wallpaper."

"Gabriel!"

Gabriel looks over to him, "So, Cassie, do you have a thing for Dean?"

Castiel's face contorts in disgust. "That is disgusting, Gabriel. Such a pushy, aggravating, and annoying man…not my type. Although he does those things out of kindness, he's not exactly what I would want to be with. Honestly, I don't think I want to see him anymore."

A/N: Sorry I have been so busy, but I stayed up all night to make sure I got this done...even though I have work tomorrow...but that's at 4 so it should be fine...probably. Anyways, something has to suffer evidently, so I will allow my sleep to suffer every once and a while to get personal projects done from now on, I promise. I'll try to update once a month again. I don't know how it will get with my internship at the funeral home coming up but I should be able to manage in time.


	6. The internet is not always for porn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean learns a valuable lesson on how to deal with his feelings.
> 
> Castiel realizes he needs to learn more about human interaction.

Dean is pissed. He has never been the butt of any situation like this.

Not since he was five.

After hanging out, and having an awesome fucking time, Castiel has stopped talking to him.

No reasons, no excuses. When Dean tried to say hi on Monday the kid ran the opposite way so damn fast he was sure he'd trip.

Not that he was worried.

Because fuck him.

"Son of a bitch." Dean hisses under his breath and Charlie sighs next to him.

"I swear to god this better be about the other team." She warns him, violently tapping at the choice letters it takes to destroy your enemies in League of Legends.

"It's just-!"

"Dean, this is league time and you know league time is serious business," Charlie says, "If you so much as mention Castiel right now I will not heal your precious Varus anymore and just let your annoying ass die."

Dean scowls, but he admittedly should have known better. You do not mess with Charlie's focus during game time, and if you join game time with anything less than 100% focus, there will be consequences. Grave consequences.

Kevin did it once and Dean doesn't know what happened but he knows that the boy never did it again.

"Fine, fine, you and your precious Leona are safe." He assures her, "I'm completely focused."

"Damn right you are."

A few hours later they finally finish and Charlie takes a deep breath before looking over to him, crossing her arms and staring him down like he's already said something stupid.

"So, he is still ignoring you, huh?" She asks and Dean nods.

"Yeah, the little shit won't even look at me. I didn't do anything!" He emphasizes the last part because he knows Charlie will have her doubts. Somehow people always assume things are his fault.

"Well, the kid was a bit peculiar. Perhaps he assumed since he watched the movie with you he was free of you?" Charlie offers, "I mean was he really so eager to hang out?"

Dean frowned, "He's lonely and doesn't know how to interact with people. I know he enjoyed himself."

"Maybe," She begins with a smirk, "He's falling for you?" They fall silent as Dean contemplates the idea. He doesn't get far, though, because Charlie is laughing a minute later. "Oh my god he's not into you, idiot!"

"Okay, okay, fair enough." Dean rolls his eyes. "Stupid kid, why did he have to be study partners with Sam?"

"Well if you want his attention, try whatever you did initially to get his attention." Charlie offers and Dean shrugs.

"I annoyed him until he caved…"

"Well then do it again." She suggests and Dean smirks. Little bastard won't know what hit him.

~~~~~~

Castiel stares down at his hand in confusion. He went to grab a skull in the Mortuary Science lounge to study from and now it has somehow become stuck to his skin. Of course he is not an idiot, clearly someone placed glue of some kind onto it, and clearly that someone is Dean Winchester.

"Whoa, that's pretty on there isn't it?" Balthazar asks, smiling down at his friend. "Want some help getting it off?"

"Yes." Is his immediate response, so Balthazar pulls up a seat next to him and takes his hand, trying to gently pull it off.

"My, my, it only took me how many years to get to hand holding with you?" Balthazar teases, "You are the definition of hard to get, aren't you?"

Castiel rolls his eyes. "Perhaps I just do not like when obnoxious people crowd me."

"Hah! That can't be true!" Balthazar scoffs, "Aren't you ignoring a certain obnoxious person because you enjoyed him too much?"

"Not him," The younger teen protests, "Simply what he showed me."

"If I hadn't already known it was just a Marvel marathon, and it were literally anyone but you involved, I would take that to such a naughty place." Balthazar teases and Castiel glares.

"Why does everyone seem to be so intent on Dean and I having relations?" He asks, getting sick of all the jokes from Gabriel, and now Balthazar as well.

"I'm not sure," His friend admits, finally getting Castiel's hand off the skull, "Oh shit! You can actually see some of your skin still on the skull!" He teases and Castiel sighs.

"Dean is going to be the end of me."



It goes on like that for the next few days. Castiel being bombarded by random pranks from Dean that include all his favorite drink miraculously being bought out on the day they restock, literally anything in the mortuary science lounge that he is known to touch ends up sticking to him, then of course there are the attacks to his locker, including one day where he opened it and a pouch of paint exploded inside. It is all completely juvenile and he is now extremely glad he chose to stop seeing the man.

Thankfully it is all harmless.

At least that is what he thought until Thursday. The day he has always been most fond of.

Of course no day is a promised good day forever.

Naturally Dean ruined his streak.

In the most abominable way.

It all starts with a seemingly innocent enough prank when he gets into his classroom. On his table is something tiny, something completely miniscule, but noticeable. Yes, on his desk is a tiny frog. Or is it a toad? It seems more like a toad, he is actually fairly sure. Probably. Maybe.

He is not a zoologist, after all. He is also unsure of why Dean would put it on his desk, but he obviously did since pests like this were not really in the buildings, and everyone was discussing the handsome Dean Winchester being let into Mortuary Science rooms by Zachariah this week. Easily the most incompetent teacher in their school. Or any school. Ever.

Still, it is quite an endearing probable-toad, and he finds himself watch it crawl over his fingertips during class until he is inevitably caught. It is one of the few drawbacks to small classes, you cannot really slack on anything.

"Castiel!" His teacher calls, making him look up.

"Yes, Zachariah?" Castiel asks, feeling the animal crawling along blissfully unaware.

"First of all, I keep telling you to call me Doctor Zachariah-"

"I will when you have achieved getting your doctorate." He counters, easily ignored.

"Second of all, what is that on your finger?"

"I am going with a toad, but I am unsure." Castiel answers.

"Well… put that damned thing outside! It's disgusting!" Zachariah exclaims, fuming at him for the fourth this week thanks to Dean. "Perhaps you should work on getting your act together, Novak."

"Perhaps you should stop letting pretty boys into our mortuary science rooms unwatched, Zachariah." Castiel responds as he goes back to watching Gus crawl on his finger. Yes, he has named it Gus. Why? Because it is small and cute and seems like a Gus.

"Maybe keep your exes out of our wing." Zachariah counters and Castiel raises a brow.

"I do not have an ex."

"Well keep your stalkers out of here."

Castiel goes to refute that as well, but his planned protest falls silent when he realizes that Zachariah is not entirely off the mark. Possibly. "I will do my best, but do not give in to him anymore."

"Oh don't you worry, that kid is on my shit-list now with you." Zachariah lets out a long suffering sigh, "Why must you kids bring your teenage romance drama into class?"

"That is not what this is." Castiel points out before getting up to put him outside as he said.

He wants to go find Dean, tell him to leave him be, but he knows better. It is what Dean wants and he won't give him what he wants. Call it stubborn but he does not care. There is no way he will reward such behavior. Dean has to try better than that.  
Sadly, he does.



"Damnit, Charlie, he's still not biting!" Dean groans, throwing himself on the bed in frustration. "Stubborn little bastard."

"No more stubborn than the man who refuses to stop trying to get his attention." Charlie counters, "An awful lot of effort for someone you don't wanna sleep with. Especially sucking up to some professor just so he will let you in places."

"First of all that Zachariah dude is easily the biggest tool in the universe, so it took literally nothing for a guy as popular as me to get access to places from him," Dean points out, "And secondly…shut up, Charlie."

"Ouch, such cruel words to my self-esteem." Charlie mocks and Dean rolls his eyes, landing them on her computer.

"Hey, Charlie…" A smirk comes to his face, "I have an idea for my next prank."



An hour later he's one page away from finishing the paper. Freedom.

Well, freedom to start on other homework.

That's when everything goes south.

His computer begins glitching, so he quickly saves his paper before something flashes onto the screen. He's unsure of what it is, until the well-endowed Asian woman takes her top off and gets to work on the man's-

Oh.

Oh god no.

Castiel's face goes bright red and he slams the laptop shut so fast it can be heard through the whole, admittedly empty, floor. He gathers his papers and books faster than he ever has and runs for the door, stopped by an elderly woman with an accusing look.

Dean will pay.

"Castiel Novak," The woman says, looking at a piece of paper in her hand, "Novak250, correct?"

"Oh no…"

"No?"

"Well, um…yes…technically…but I-!" Castiel is cut off with a terrifying look from the woman. He always thought she was sweet.

Clearly porn brings out the worst in her.

This is it, this is the final straw. Castiel has always believed in forgiveness but not anymore. Dean is dead.

"Castiel Novak," She sighs, "You have used our computers in an explicitly wrong way and we have to blacklist you."

Castiel feels his heart fall to his stomach, "It was not me, ma'am. You see, there is a guy who is stalking me and-"

Her look screams she doesn't buy it. For many reasons. "You have a stalker?"

"It seems weird, yes, but I am fairly certain at this point he is indeed a stalker."

"Look, I am sorry if that's true, but there is no proof anyone messed with your computer so until you have some do not come near our computers again." She warns and Castiel deflates.

"Yes, ma'am." He leaves the building and immediately pulls his phone out, dialing Sam. "Where is that thing you call your brother?" Castiel practically hisses into the phone.

"Oh shit," Sam groans, "What did he do?"

"I will tell you tomorrow during our study time." Castiel promises, "Until then, no him returning home tonight with fewer appendages is completely justified."

"Al…right…he's in Charlie's room. It's in the south dorms. Room 115." He can hear the grin in Sam's voice, "As long as he comes home alive I don't care much what you do."

"Thank you." Castiel grumbles, hanging up and heading for the room.

Upon reaching the dorm, and being let in by a very uncomfortable girl, Castiel storms down the hall until he reaches room 115. This is it. The final straw. He slams on the door until Charlie opens it.

"Oh, it's for you Dean!" She calls, side stepping to allow Castiel inside.

"Hey there Castiel." Dean grins, "Enjoy my gift to you?"

Castiel wordlessly stalks up to Dean, grabbing him by the shirt collar and effortlessly lifting him. He slams him into the wall, coming right up to his face to ensure eye contact. "Dean. Winchester."

"Uhoh…didn't like the anatomy lesson, huh?" Dean teases, making Castiel tighten his grip.

"Listen here, Dean Winchester," Castiel begins, trying very hard not to strangle him. "In the past week I have had to buy new pants during school because you decided to rig up some ink bomb in my locker, the body parts in the study room have more of my skin on them than I do, my incompetent teacher finally has something to throw in my face when I call him out on his inability to do anything right, and my entire major thinks I am having some kind of affair with the great Dean Winchester.

"I could have dealt with that, really I could have, but I just got banned from the schools computers because of you. Do you know what that means? That means I now have to use my brother's computer. Are you aware of how hard it is to type in anything on that without a porn site coming up? Or worse, a search for porn? Last time I used it I was unable to look him in the eye for months. Now we have to go back to that because you are incapable of letting things go."

His rage lessens a little when he sees the worried expression on Dean's face. "Wait, you got banned? Oh shit, I didn't meant for you to get banned, I was just-!"

"Just messing with me, right?" Castiel glares, "I do not need another popular kid 'messing with me'. Leave me alone, and I meant it." He lets Dean go and leaves the room, making sure not to look back.

Why?

Because Dean looked crushed just now.



The next day Castiel sits down with Sam for their normal studying. There has been no sign of hijinks or tomfoolery anywhere so far, so Dean apparently listened. He's not used to, or sure, how you cut ties with potential friend but he is fairly certain that was not the way to do it. On either of their ends.

"Hello, Sam." Castiel greets as he pulls out his papers. "I am sorry I could not get along with Dean."

Sam gives him a sad smile, "Yeah, you two just don't mesh well."

"He got me banned from the computers." Castiel supplies, just to emphasis Sam's point.

"Oh, right. You don't know yet…" Sam leans back in his chair and looks at Castiel, "As soon as you left yesterday Dean went to the library and came clean. He even managed to drag Charlie with him. She has never once owned up to the stuff she pulls and he still refuses to tell me what he did to make her, but at any rate…you aren't banned anymore." He smiles at Castiel's shocked expression. "He can be a jerk, and an ass, but…he does care."

"I see…but…we barely know each other…" Castiel frowns, confused at the entire thing.

"Dean was worried about you," Sam explains, "Because you seem so lonely, his words not mine. He did enjoy hanging out with you, the rest of the weekend it was all he talked about. There were shows he was gonna introduce you to, merchandise…all kinds of his nerdy stuff. Then you just never talked to him again." He shrugs, "Dean hasn't had that happen since he was five and people distanced themselves because he was a huge-ass nerd. Openly. So…he was hurt." Pulling out his book, Sam looks over at Castiel and frowns. "I'm not saying to be friends with him, there is no reason to do something you don't want to do…I'm just saying…neither of you went about this the right way."

"I understand…" Castiel's heart drops and he can actually feel his color draining.

This is why he doesn't socialize.



Later that night Castiel has holed himself up in a corner of the library, on the floor, surrounded by towers of books for class and psychology books to try and help him with approaching Dean.

They are useless.

Other than telling him he really needs to get out more, despite his brother and father's warnings.

Sinking into his little impromptu fort, Castiel buries his face in his hands and sighs. Friends are a harder concept than he thought.

With Balthazar it is easy, they both sort of fell into it and they understand each other so well it is almost impossible for one to offend the other. Almost. They know when to push the other to do something, and when to push back. Not to mention Balthazar's parents own a company that does frequent business with his father's so even Michael and his father approved.

They would never approve of Dean, which is a major reason he tried to pull away. Dean is a distraction. He is something fascinating and terrifying because he is everything Castiel has never even dared to dream of being. Pulling away was mean, though. Not giving him an explanation was worse.

He glances up at the shelves and wonders if perhaps he should read some young adult novels to gain a better grasp on friendship. Never being one for them, he's not exactly sure of what they might hold, although according to both Balthazar and Gabriel they are truthfully dreadful. However, he might just have to do it anyways.

For Dean.

Who he still has no idea how to approach.

He groans, long and suffering, until he heads someone clear their throat to his left. Looking over, he jumps a little, his foot knocking over one of his towers of books. The psychology ones.

"D-Dean!" Castiel quickly gathers the books and scrambles awkwardly to his feet, "Um…what are you…?"

"I came to apologize…" Dean says, holding out a bag of what looked to be Chinese food. "I never got to apologize…so….this is for you. I figured you would still be here, and hungry, because for some reason a smart guy like you doesn't know when to put the book down and actually eat." He hands the confused teen the bag. "Well, I'll be going. Last time I'll bother you, I swear."

For a moment Castiel just stares at him in awe, until Dean starts for the stairs. "Wait! Um, apologies are in order from me as well." He admits, stepping to one side of his little fort before looking at Dean, "Would you like to join me?"

Dean grins and walks into the cramped area, the two squished together among all the books as Castiel opens the container and sees everything he likes. "Gabe told me what to get." He admits and Castiel gives him a curious look, "It's not creepy, stop side-eying me like that!"

"I guess Zachariah was right," Castiel mutters, grabbing an eggroll from the container, "You really are a stalker."

"Shut up, you walking bag of awkward." Dean huffs, grabbing one as well before scanning over the books. "So what's with all the psychology books? Taking a new course?" He asks and Castiel almost chokes on his bite.

"Something like that."

A/N: I AM SO SORRY THIS SUCKS AND MY INTERNSHIP IS MAKING ME REALLY BUSY. I even had to quit my job because the internship, class, and that was too much. Now my brother is moving again, too, so I'm spending all the time I can with my niece. Ironically, I spent twelve hours watching her today (because she refuses to leave my side becau


	7. Two day old takeout is not a suitable meal for guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas sucks at this friend thing and his father and brother Michael suck at timing.

Castiel and Dean are now becoming friends. Slowly.

They meet up once a week in the library and eat dinner together. Castiel can only give this much for now because he's an awkward creature and needs to study more. Not for class, but for socializing. He has taken seven books out from the local library that mention friends in them.

So far all he knows is that female friendship is a tricky thing. He appreciates his born sex exponentially more now if those books are a true glimpse into the woman's world.

From what he has seen, in the typical friendship roles he would fall into the odd side-character niche. No real story of his own, just sitting on the sidelines to help with plot points every now and then.

What exactly does that translate to in real life? Should he only speak every-so-often and just when he has useful information for Dean?

…Is that normal? ….It doesn't seem normal.

Friendships are weird.

He really wishes he could find more just on friendships. Not friends-turned-lovers, or fighting-for-survival, or even suddenly-a-magical-protagonist books. They aren't his kind of stories, although he can certainly see the appeal in them. Well, to say all of them are not his type of story is a little broad. The YA books his library has do not appeal to him, is more accurate.

It really makes him wonder why he is working so hard for Dean.

Looking over to the clock on his stand he sees its noon and groans. There are no classes since its Saturday, but Sam is actually coming over today around one. The reason given was studying for their midterm, but Castiel is not stupid, he knows Sam is coming to see his brother so they can share odd looks and awkward smiles.

Perhaps he should give Sam one of his YA books so he knows how to court someone.

As expected, his brother is already prepared for the visit with a nice meal in the oven (well, nice takeout from last night) and his best clothes washed and on. He's fairly certain Gabriel even showered this morning. Clearly the elder Novak has it bad.

Despite knowing of his brother, and Sam's, attraction towards one another, Castiel is still confused as to how it came about. Well, no, the more accurate phrasing would be he doesn't understand how such a situation could lead to these feelings.

It all happened last semester, evidently. Sam was lost on campus during his first week and Gabriel was pulling one of his overly-elaborate pranks.

Gabriel was dressed as a janitor, so he could sneak into the Dean of student's office and retrieve some files on a previous prank he did that got him in trouble with the school.

Because obviously when you set out to film a porno in the commuter lounge, people will fail to find the humor in it.

He was almost home free with the papers when he noticed Sam looking around, as Gabriel put it, 'flustered and adorable'. It still baffles Castiel how ten feet of plaid can be adorable. Gus, the frog he now visits daily thanks to Dean, is adorable. Winchesters not so much.

At any rate, Gabriel decided he would ask what was wrong in hopes of gaining access to fornication with Sam. When Sam told him what was wrong, Gabriel showed him where his class was and got caught by a teacher. He is banned from….well….a lot of things.

Castiel is unsure how this is romantic. Is it because Sam saw it as Gabriel putting him before himself? Or perhaps Sam is just attracted to janitor uniforms.

What he really doesn't know is how his brother has maintained interest so long. They do not spend time together, as both are too awkward to ask. So how is he still attached?

Whatever their reasons, it is not really much of Castiel's business and according to the books he got from the library, crushes make no sense anyways.

"So, um, when is little Samsquatch comin over?" Gabriel asks, trying to seem disinterested but they both know better. A complete stranger coming in and seeing just this one moment would know better.

"He will be here in an hour." Castiel answers, grabbing himself some yogurt and berries. "So I would wait on 'cooking' that 'meal' if I were you."

"Wow, someone put on their sasspants today. It's all those teen fiction books you insist on reading."

"They are 'young adult' books, and I am a young adult. It is perfectly fine. Even if they are 'teen' books, I still fall under that category as well." He points out before finishing his food and heading for a shower.

When he comes out he sees Sam standing next to his brother, the two talking about something until he shows up. They both smile at him and Castiel wonders briefly is he really should introduce Sam to the YA books currently hidden under his bed. Just because he has every right to read them doesn't mean he isn't a little embarrassed by them.

You know you should be a little embarrassed when the librarian begins to give you suspicious looks.

"Hello, Sam." Castiel greets and the boy smiles at him.

"Hi, Castiel! Gabriel said he was making us something for lunch." Sam says, clearly excited at the idea that Gabriel is cooking for him.

Castiel doesn't have the heart to tell him it's takeout.

"Yes, Gabriel can be quite the generous host when he wants to be." Is all he says, trying to drop it so he doesn't have to end up lying for his brother. "Would you like to come to my room until it's done?"

"Sure," Sam says, the easy smile he always has on replacing the excited one he just had. "I've always wondered what it looks like."

"Prepare to be underwhelmed." Gabriel teases.

"Better than stumbling into your room and being scarred for life." Castiel huffs before bringing Sam into his room.

Admittedly, it is very underwhelming. The only things he has are clothes and school items. There's a couple CDs, all of them signed copies from his brother Lucifer's band. He has listened to a few and likes them, but they make Michael and his father unhappy so he hasn't really touched them since. Aside from that he has a couple weird things from Balthazar, and a billion odd things from Gabriel.

"This isn't underwhelming at all," Sam assures him, "I'm willing to bet all the things on that bookshelf are from Gabriel, right?" He asks, pointing to the bookshelf covered in novelty gifts from Spencers and Hot Topic. Needless to say many of them are face down to hide certain phallic imagery on them.

"You would be correct." Castiel admits, "He and Balthazar like to give me odd things. The bookshelf below it is Balthazar's gifts." He points to the one covered in cutesy stuffed animals. "I like Balthazar's gifts better."

Sam laughs a little, "Don't tell Gabe that, I bet he's competitive."

"All of the Novak's are competitive to a degree." Castiel admits and the younger Winchester sighs.

"Yeah, us Winchesters are, too."

"Yeah, I've noticed." The older teen agrees, thinking back to the other day when he and Dean were doing homework together and it ended up turning into a contest of who could finish first. A contest they redid six times and fought over for an hour after. It was a tie. Neither of them does ties.

"That's right, you and Dean have been hanging out more recently, haven't you?" Sam asks, feigning ignorance. Or maybe he really hasn't been paying attention to it. Surely he has his own stuff going on. "Once a week seems a bit limited though, don't you think?"

Strike that, Sam is completely paying attention to it and seems to have an agenda. He should have known, those Winchesters always have an agenda.

"I think it is working well," Castiel says, "Unless Dean has said otherwise?" He asks, more than a little worried he's being a bad friend.

"Hey, don't make that face," Sam says sweetly and Castiel tries to change the expression he wasn't aware he was making, "He's not against it or anything, he just wishes he could spend more time with you."

"Oh." The older teen frowns, "But what would we do with more time? Surely we cover all the bases during our weekly dinners. Our current events, plans for the next week, whatever inane things Dean wants to talk about…" Castiel looks at Sam confused, "I have doubts as to whether I can be a good friend more than once a week."

Sam laughs a little. "There's no reason to! You and I see each other every day and still have things to talk about. Just the other day Dean was whining about how I get to spend more time with you. He was especially upset I was invited over today and he wasn't."

Castiel pales. "Should I have…invited him as well? We're just studying. He would end up having to speak to Gabriel and that's not a good idea since-" He stops himself. Even with his lack of social graces, he knows not to let slip that his brother has feelings for Sam without his brother's consent.

"Dean knows I have a thing for him?" Sam suggests and Castiel nods, perhaps a little too eagerly.

"Yes, that is why!" He keeps nodding to himself a little longer, pondering why Sam and his brother have to go around in circles like this. Perhaps if they do not step up in the next month he will force their hands. Nothing is more annoying to Castiel than two people circling around their clear attraction for one another.

"Boys, come out here, please!" Gabriel calls and Castiel frowns. They hadn't even gotten their books out yet. (Is that a good thing? Does that mean he's socializing correctly?)

Pushing those thoughts aside, Castiel leads then both back out to the kitchen, "What is it, Gabriel? Is your 'meal' finished?"

When he finally looks at his brother he notices the pointedly unhappy expression on his face. "Castiel," Gabriel begins and the teen gets nervous. He never uses his actual name unless he's pissed off. "Michael just called. He wants you to go to lunch with him and father right now. At the usual place."

"What…?" Castiel frowns, side-eyeing Sam, "But I have someone over. That would be rude. Did you tell them this?"

"I tried, but apparently they're both pretty pissed about something."

"Oh." Castiel mutters, crestfallen. He finally had a friend over. They were going to study and make real food (because day old take out is not okay for guests, no matter what Gabriel thinks), and he was going to ask for advice on how to be a good friend to Dean (because apparently he is failing at it).

Perhaps this is a sign, God is telling him that he should not get caught up in frivolous behavior. He should stick to his father and Michael's rules.

"I'm sorry, Cassie." Gabriel sighs, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "But they love you, unlike Lucy and me, it would take a lot for them to be mad at you."

"Yeah…" It would take a lot, that's true, but what qualifies for that 'lot' are all things that Castiel has recently been doing. "I guess I will go change my clothes and meet with them…you will have to entertain Sam. I'll try to get back as soon as possible." He says, noticing the flustered look on the younger teens face as he leaves them to change into a suit.

Alone in his room, his hands are shaking and his heart sinks into his stomach.

For them to ignore social graces like behavior towards guests means that something big happened. Something big that Castiel did.

No doubt its Dean related.

But…how did they find out so quickly?

A/N: Sorry this is filler just to build up for the next chapter. Which I will work on as soon as I wake up but it's 5 am and I need sleep. (I finally graduated college so hopefully my updates will be more frequent...?)(I also have nothing against YA books, btw, my best friend is in love with them. I just don't know many guys who like them)


	8. Cliches matter, too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel gets scolded
> 
> Gabriel gets laid
> 
> Clearly one Novak is having a better day than the other

Castiel arrives at the restaurant, his palms sweating and his heart pounding. Sitting there at an isolated table are his father and eldest brother, sticking out like sore thumbs.

Well-coiffed, attractive, sore thumbs.

All the woman, and quite a few of the men, keep peaking over at them in awe. The waitresses are arguing over who gets to serve them. It always amuses him how popular they are.

"Excuse me," A boy calls, grabbing Castiel's attention, "Are you looking for someone?"

"I am actually looking for them." He motions towards the two everyone is staring at.

"Oh," The boy laughs a little, "I guess I'll be beating out the women today." He muses, leading Castiel to the table.

Michael is the first to look at Castiel, and then the boy. "Hello, thank you for bringing my brother over." He says, flashing the teen a broad smile and making him blush a little.

"Ah, well, yes. If you would like to order something to drink I can get that for you while you decide on your food." The boy mumbles and Castiel has to keep himself from rolling his eyes, especially when he notices the group of heart broken waitresses in the corner.

They place their orders and Michael gives him another pointedly seductive smile, making the boy hurry off to the kitchen. "Michael, try not to tease the waiter." Castiel mutters and his eldest brother chuckles under his breath. The older Novaks enjoy their power plays. Whether in business, the family, or romance, the older Novaks seem to have a compulsory need to rub in that they are better.

It's part of what lead to the downfall of their family unit.

Castiel finds it disgusting.

"My apologies. I'll be nice to the boy." Michael concedes before their father finally speaks up.

"Castiel," He begins, looking at the boy like he has personally offended him. Which, to be fair, there is a good chance he has. "I hear something interesting about you from your university." His eyes turn cold. "Something about you looking up lewd things on their computers."

Castiel goes rigid. He'd completely forgot about that horrible prank by Dean. How does his father know, though? It was cleared up within a few hours. Even if it hadn't been, colleges do not exactly go about telling on their students to their parents.

"Wondering how he knows?" Michael asks and Castiel hesitantly nods.

"I give them generous donations to keep tabs on you and Gabriel. Of course Gabriel is a lost cause, but I am very much concerned about you." His father explains, looking to Castiel with more annoyance than concern. "They say a fellow student did it to you. Are they still bullying you?"

"No, it is fine now." Castiel frowns, "It was partially my fault." He admits. "I did something to upset him and never apologized. We have worked through it, father, and I believe we are good friends now."

Michael looks amused, but their father looks angry.

"Friends with someone who would stoop so low as to force a good Christian child to watch porn just to get back at him?" His father asks, clearly not finding any amusement in the story. "I will not allow you to fraternize with such useless people. We lost your brother Lucas to that, those people even went so far as to get him to change his name to Lucifer! Then of course even Gabriel has strayed because of the company he keeps. Stick to Balthazar. You only truly need one friend in this world, and he will never get you into trouble." The reason for him being called out is clear now. It is exactly what Castiel feared. Thankfully the soon-to-be-tirade comes to an end when his phone rings. "Michael, talk to your brother. I must take this." He huffs, getting up and walking away.

"Sorry, Castiel." Michael gives him a sympathetic smile, "It isn't wise to befriend those our father disapproves of."

"Dean is a good person," Castiel assures him, "I would not associate with unsavory people. He is a bit odd, but very kind."

"So his name is Dean, is it?" The older Novak muses, making Castiel tense up. "I want you to live a happy life, Castiel, but I will not let you get involved with bad people either."

"Dean is not bad." Castiel insists, looking Michael dead in the eyes, "I beg you to trust my judgement."

Michael looks torn for a moment before giving Castiel a stern look. "It is not my place to trust your judgement. It is my place to trust father's judgement."

"Umm," The waiter begins awkwardly, "I have…your drinks."

"Oh, right, yes." Michael smiles at the clearly uncomfortable teen. "Thank you. I believe our father has left for business, so it will just be my brother and I now."

"Alright…what can I get for you?" He asks, taking down their orders and vanishing again.

"Bottom line, Castiel, father is against this." Michael frowns, "Are you really going to continue?"

"Yes, I am fond of him and his younger brother." Castiel admits, "I will continue being friends with them."

"We'll be keeping an eye on you, then. As well as this Dean and his brother."

"They are good people, Michael, I promise."

His brother smiles at him, a tired smile that makes Castiel feel a little guilty. No one really acknowledges it, probably because they are unaware, but Michael dotes on Castiel as much as Gabriel and Lucifer do. Perhaps more strongly, given how he does it. While Gabriel and Lucifer have always been eager to play with him and shower him with affection and gifts, Michael has been quick to defend him. He will soften the blow when father gives Castiel orders, or work tirelessly to prevent some of their father's more ridiculous ones.

No internet in the house had originally been no internet period for Castiel. Michael pointed out this was foolish as schools required the use of internet and the world is heavy on the use of technology.

Balthazar was initially refused as well, when Castiel mentioned a boy at school who would not stop talking to him. His father told him to stay away from strange children, and that the name Balthazar was odd so his family is probably odd. It was Michael who pointed out that Balthazar was the name of a Wise Man in the bible, and that Balthazar's parents were in fact very important people to their father's business.

Even college, which his father had wanted him to attend online, was worked out through Michael who talked their father into allowing him to go on campus. He of course was not fond of the idea Castiel would be living with Gabriel, but the daily phone calls he demanded as part of the bargain ease that concern.

Slightly.

Castiel cannot truly fault Michael for being uneasy about him living with Gabriel, anyways. Before Sam caught his eye, Gabriel's apartment was a veritable den of iniquity.

"I'll do my best with father," Michael sighs, leaning back in his seat. "I cannot guarantee anything, though."

"I am sorry, Michael, I do not wish to cause you trouble."

"You're my baby brother, Castiel," Pale blue eyes meet with Castiel's, "I will do anything for your happiness, so long as it does not deviate from father's."

The younger Novak frowns, wondering just how much his father will give in this time. He's guessing not at all. The Winchesters have no benefit to the Novak family, his second biggest problem child is in love with a Winchester, and his youngest son is befriending them. It's all out of his father's hands and Castiel knows the man will not like that. He has a plan for his children, everyone was to have a specific future. Gabriel and Lucifer deviated from that, Lucifer even going so far as to change his name to a blasphemous one, and he knows his father will not sit back and allow Castiel to do any variation of the same.

"It will be alright," Michael assures him with a smile he reserves specifically for the youngest Novak, "In the meantime, if you truly want to keep this 'Dean' around, perhaps you should consider playing the part of the good Christian and help this boy achieve salvation."

Castiel stares at his brother for a moment, processing his words. He doesn't really think Dean needs to be saved, but he doesn't really know him all that well. Of course the man is a huge nerd but that's not something that calls for salvation. Still, if it is what his father and Michael want, he'll do his best.

Even if he doesn't know how exactly he is supposed to go about it.

After Castiel walks out of the apartment, visibly nervous, Sam stands rooted to the floor for a few moments. His eyes turn to Gabriel, who suddenly looks worn out, but is still quick to flash the teen a smile.

"Will everything be alright?" Sam asks, very much concerned. If there is one thing he understands about families, its difficult fathers.

"He'll be fine," Gabriel sighs, plopping down on the couch and patting the spot next to him for Sam to sit. "Michael is there and he is pretty amicable towards little Cassie."

"But doesn't he enforce your dad's weird rules?" Sam asks and Gabriel nods.

"He sure does. Father has always had eccentric rules, but with Castiel he goes overboard. Even Michael knows this, so he has been sure to keep father from becoming…abusive with his power over Castiel."

"I'm sorry," Sam frowns, "I didn't mean to pry."

Gabriel simply smiles at him quietly for a moment, making Sam more nervous, before he slides over to sit closer to the teen. "You know, my brothers and I were referred to as angels in our old town. Pretty much just 'cause of our names…well, except Lucy's of course. He was named after mom's dad, Lucas. Still got angel status though, until the town got to know us, and quickly stopped calling Lucy and me angels."

He stretches out, not-do-subtly placing an arm around Sam's shoulders as he continues.

"Cassie used to revel in being called an angel. Until he was about nine he thought that if he really became an angel he could go up and see mom in heaven. Then one day some asshole kid told him if you can't fly, you are an angel, so he decided to fly up to mom by attempting to jump off the roof of our old house. Maaannnnn was Michael piiissssssed! He snatched the little brat up and told snapped on him. I believe his exact words were 'I can't lose you yet, Castiel, so stop doing reckless things!' and then a long lecture. One that included a clause where he will only be an angel when he dies, from natural causes. A long time from now."

"You know, rather than tell me all this stuff about Castiel, I would rather hear more about you." Sam mumbles awkwardly, "If you want to tell me stuff, just, you know, tell me about yourself…"

"Myself, huh?" Gabriel hymns and haws for a few moments before shrugging it off. "Nah! What's there to tell? I was a cute and spoiled baby, then I became a toddler and was a little shit. Haven't changed much since then. Lucy is considered the heathen of the family, but I'm the one that's considered the failure."

"What? But why?"

"Sammy, let's not…"

Sam frowns and turns to face Gabriel head on, "I want to learn everything about you, Gabe, you are…important to me. Of course I care about Castiel as well, but I'll learn about him from himself-or more likely Dean-so from you I want to learn about only you."

"Ohoh, careful Sammy, I might just fall for you." Gabriel teases and the teen goes bright red, but refuses to avert his gaze.

"I wouldn't mind that. "Please do." He says, trying to sound indifferent and cool but the moment his voice squeaks a little that dream is brutally shattered.

Gabriel bursts into laughter at the awkward attempt, "Easy tiger, you're a bit too young to start with a pro like me." He points out, "And I don't see Dean too happy at the idea of his precious baby brother dating me."

"Da-? Er…honestly…I don't think Dean can see past Castiel's ass right now." Sam argues, "And even if he can, he'll relent because if he says no it could upset his precious new…whatever Castiel is to him. Stalker victim?"

The older Novak clearly cannot deny this, no one can really, so growing nervous himself, he points out a far more solid fact, "You're not into dicks, dude. Don't try dating a guy when you clearly want girls."

Sam frowns, "Well, it's true I have never thought of dating a guy before…and I've always been pretty by-the-book hetero…but…" A small smirk comes to his face and he leans closer to Gabriel, "I tend to make exceptions when it comes to angels." He teases, taking Gabriel's momentary surprise as an opportunity to kiss him.

The man doesn't fight it and instead kisses back, easily taking the reins from the relatively inexperienced teen. Before Sam can even register it, he has a one Novak on his lap, and in spite of himself is desperately hoping the other one doesn't come home tonight.

"You're a pretty pushy boy when you finally decide to go for something, aren't you?" Gabriel asks, licking his lips when he finally pulls back from the kiss. "Well, I tried to keep everything PG. Be sure to tell Cassie I put up a valiant effort and went down swinging."

Sam laughs a little, "I'll tell him I practically had to jump you."

"Atta boy, Sammy." The older man praises as he untangled his arms from around Sam's neck. "Now, we can be responsible adults and take this slow," He begins as one of his hands runs down Sam's chest before reaching into his pocket, "Or we can be horny teenagers and fuck like bunnies." Before Sam can really register what his fingers are doing, his hand is back up in sight with the teen's cellphone. "Either way I'm gonna take some precautions."

"Huh…?" Sam mumbles, not really grasping what Gabriel is doing with his phone because his other hand is currently running up and down the teen's abs.

"Don't worry about it." He texts something really quickly before putting it on silent mode and tossing it to the side, "Now then, Sammy, how responsible are we feeling tonight?"

The teen smirks and grabs Gabriel's hips, "About as responsible as a horny teenager."

Finally finishing with the dinner, Castiel parts ways with his brother for the night and checks his phone to find a text from Sam.

Subject: Sexiled!

Sorry, Cassie, I did my best but god damn little Sammy can be pushy. Find somewhere else to sleep tonight.  
Love, Gabe

Castiel stares at the message for a minute, more than a little annoyed. Sexiled is not a real word, and just why must he sleep elsewhere? Gabriel should splurge and get himself a hotel room with Sam for the night.

He sighs and looks through his contacts. Balthazar is a pretty obvious answer, but after today, for some reason, Castiel finds himself hovering over Dean's name. If he is to save the man, he will have to spend more time with him, anyways. Giving in to his own reasoning, Castiel calls Dean up.

"C-Castiel? Is that you?" Dean asks, clearly stunned.

It's fair. Castiel never actually calls people on his cell and he's fairly certain he hasn't even sent Dean so much as a text since they exchanged numbers.

"Dean, I would like to come over for the duration of the night this evening." Castiel blurts out, wincing as soon as it's said. He was going to ease into it. Apologize for not inviting him over, tell him he can't go home. Apparently he still needs to work on his social skills. "If…that is okay with you."

There is a long pause on the phone, and for a moment Castiel thinks Dean abandoned it, until he notices the faint sound of the man breathing on the other end. "You…you want to come here?" He asks in apparent awe, "Even though Sammy is out for the night? Isn't he your favorite?"

"No," Castiel stares into space curiously, "He is not my favorite." He does not actually have a favorite, unless you can count Balthazar. "So may I stay at your house tonight?"

"Fuck yeah you can!" Dean exclaims, "Get your scrawny ass over here dude, we can marathon movies and shit! It'll be awesome!"

Castiel feels some of his tension he's has since receiving the news from Gabriel earlier that day ease just at the sound of Dean so happy, and the promise of such a simple and enjoyable evening with the man. "Thank you, Dean.

A/N: THIS IS SHIT ABSOLUTE SHIT I HATE ME SO MUCH! I FINALLY FOUND MY PLANS FOR THIS AND REALIZED I FUCKED THEM ALL UP LAST CHAPTER GOD DAMNIT. So yeah I have been spending a week trying to figure out how to work it out (well, you know, not ALL week. I do have a little bit of a life). Anyways, I apologize for this garbage.


	9. Fire and ice make nothing but water, why write a song about it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean introduces Castiel to two new types of pain; crappy horror movies and Game of Thrones.

Castiel approaches Dean's home growing increasingly unsure. What does one do on a sleepover?

He should have just gone to Balthazar's.

A nice routine night of watching a documentary and then studying with some light conversation. Yes, that would have been much better than going to a normal person's house, who will not do any of those things, save for perhaps the latter.

He stands in front of the door, and before Castiel can knock, Dean swings the door open and yanks him in. Déjà vu.

"So what happened? Sammy had to do something?" Dean asks, letting go of the teen. The bright smile on his face shows he does not in fact care, and feels he has one some sort of imaginary competition with his brother. Poor Sam has to live with such a weird man.

Not that he can say much, really.

Last week his own brother decided to build a fort in the living room and not let Castiel on the couch without the password '34B', the bra size of their childhood neighbor's mother.

"You could say that…" Castiel mutters distastefully. He doesn't mind their brothers fornicating so much as he dislikes lying to Dean. However, if he wishes to still have a brother in the morning, it must be done. It is not his place to divulge other peoples' sex lives anyways.

"Um…huh. Well, whatever. What do you wanna do first? Wanna have a bite to eat?"

"I already ate with my father and Michael." Castiel admits, "I have no appetite."

"Oh, went out to dinner with your dad, huh? Have some fun?" Dean grins, until he notices the teen has gone fairly pale. "You…okay, Castiel?"

"What? Yes, do not worry. I am fine." Castiel assures him, making his way over and sitting on the couch, folding his hands in his lap. "My father is simply a highly abrasive man, it can be…a bit exhausting to deal with him and Michael."

"Daddy issues, huh? If you were a girl I'd already have you in my bed." The older Winchester teases, plopping down next to Castiel, who looks to him alarmed.

"You want to have sex with me?" He asks, moving further away on the couch. What is with the Winchesters and the Novak's? Heaven forbid Dean meet any of his other brothers. They are actually attractive. "I am sorry Dean, I do not wish to have sex with you. I would also like to urge you to never have sex with any Novak's. As a personal favor."

"Whoa! Wait! I was just making a joke, of course I don't want to have sex with you! I would never have sex with you! It was just, you know, girls with daddy issues are…" Dean trails off, "Wait, why would I have sex with any of your brothers?"

"Do not think much of it." Castiel moves from the couch and goes to the large bookcase in the Winchester apartment that holds all of their movies. "Which will we be watching tonight?"

"A horror movie." A smirk comes to Dean's lips, "Yeah definitely a horror movie."

"Horror?" Castiel looks over to him confused, "I have never seen a horror movie, it should be interesting…which one do I choose?"

"We'll play Netflix roulette!" Dean decides, "Sit down."

"…Alright…" Castiel mutters, sitting on the other end of the couch. "What is Netflix?"

"Are you that sheltered? Jesus Christ, kid." Dean groans and Castiel looks to him, personally affronted.

"Do not take the lords name in vain, Dean!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." He turns on the TV and gets Netflix up.

"Oh, I see, it is 'flix' on the internet." Castiel mutters, staring in awe. "So how do you do roulette on it?"

"We go to the horror movie section," Dean begins, scrolling down to it, "And close our eyes and hit the arrow button until the other person says 'stop'. Then we select the movie they landed on."

Castiel eyes his wearily, "Do not do anything strange while my eyes are closed."

"I'm not sure if you are joking or being serious, but either option is kinda pissing me off." Dean huffs, "Now close your eyes. Say stop whenever you feel like it."

The two close their eyes, the only sound in the room being the clicking of the selections on the screen. Castiel decides to recite John 38-44; Lazarus' rising. He mutters it under his breath, surprised and impressed Dean says nothing about this.

"Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'" Castiel finally mutters, "Stop." He orders and Dean finally stops before they both open their eyes to see the movie; Sorority Row.

"Damn, this one isn't even scary." Dean groans, "Shoulda just made you watch The Conjuring." He shrugs and starts the movie, "But I supposed to truly appreciate a good one, ya gotta see a shitty one first."

"That is not very nice to say, Dean. I am sure that it is perfectly adequate."

The movie starts and by the time they reach the graduation scene at the beginning, Castiel has so many questions, comments, and more than a few concerns.

"Dean, I do not understand."

"What don't you get?"

"Well, first," Castiel looks to Dean, "Is this a normal formula for horror movies?"

"Pretty standard, yep."

"Why do you want me to watch it, then? I thought you wanted to get me into your nerdy things," He points out, "All of these characters are the opposite of nerds. They are highly popular."

"True, but they are all people nerds want dead." Dean points out and Castiel stares at him for a moment.

"You realize that to everyone but a few close friends and family, you are one of these people, right?" Castiel asks, "All of your nerd friends want the 'cool' you dead. Is that what you are saying?"

"To some extent. Look, just, don't over think it." Dean flashes him a cocky smile, "I'm honored you think I'm popular enough to make the nerds hate me, though."

"You take solace in alarming things." Castiel observes. "Also, I find the core premise of it faulty."

"Oh yeah? The plot unrealistic to you?"

"My main problem is that I find none of these characters redeemable." The teen explains, "Part of the horror is based on emotional attachment to their lives, correct? But I could care less about that. I do not care if any of them live or die."

Dean laughs, "That's pretty cold hearted for a Christian."

"That therapist is propositioning his patient for sex!" Castiel gasps, "What is wrong with this mo…oh, he's dead."

"Yep."

"Is that a normal way to kill someone in a horror movie?"

"Blunt object to the head? Pretty standard."

A few minutes go by until the next killing, Castiel doesn't bat an eye when a bottle is shoved down a girl's throat.

"That does not seem so standard."

"I think your reaction is less standard." Dean observes.

The movie seems to go on forever and before Castiel knows it, Dean is shaking him awake. Castiel yawns and stretches a little, blinking at Dean until everything is back into focus.

"Is the movie over?"

"Yeah, man, don't worry. I won't make you watch crap like that again. Wanna watch some Game of Thrones?" Dean asks, with a far more mischevious grin than before.

"I don't know…would I?" Castiel asks hesitantly.

"Yes." Dean assures him, "Yes you would. It is awesome. Trust me on this."

"I trusted you on roulette and ended up taking a nap to the sound of horrible people dying."

"There's worse things to fall asleep to."

Castiel sighs, "Fine, fine, we can watch this movie."

"It's not a movie, it's a series. Based off books."

"Oh." The teen mumbles, admittedly relieved. It's a nerd thing. A legitimate nerd thing. So far those have been good.

Ten hours later Castiel is simultaneously grateful he took that nap, and bitter towards this show.

This horribly mean and cruel show.

Yes, mean and cruel are pretty much the same thing, but not with this show.

It is now 7:30 in the morning and Castiel is too tired to cry or yell, so he settles on pouting at the tv. Surely this will make his rage known to the creator George R. R. Martin. Such a horrible human being, he must be a sadist.

"Dean, this was horrible." Castiel mutters groggily.

"You're the one who insisted on watching every episode." Dean offers up with a grin.

"Who watches these sort of things?"

The man beside him on the couch says nothing for a long while, "I have season two."

"We will watch that after I rest." Castiel says quickly, allowing himself to pretty much drop into Dean's lap.

"Whoa, whose getting fresh now?" Dean teases, "If you're tired why don't we go sleep in my room?"

"Just for safety I feel I must warn you I am completely male underneath these clothes." Castiel mumbles as Dean helps him up from the couch. "I will also reciprocate none of your attempts at anything."

"Man, I've never seen you exhausted before." Dean laughs, "This is great."

"You take pleasure in the weirdest things." Castiel muses, stumbling after Dean into the bedroom.

"Want some pajamas?" Dean offers as he strips and tosses on a pair of shorts.

"No, I am fine." The teen crawls into the bed and under Dean's blanket. "I feel it is only fair I tell you this; father issues are what lead me to your place tonight."

"Oh yeah? Sure hope that lead you here platonically."

"Very much so." Castiel assures him, "I just wanted to see you." He snuggles deeper into the blankets and closes his eyes, "I'm glad I did…even if we watched a horrible movie and an emotionally devastating show I begrudgingly love now."

"Just go to sleep, dude." Dean chuckles, laying down next to him. "This is a strictly no chick flicks moment location."

The two settle in on the large bed and Castiel actually gives Dean a tired smile, "You know what this means?"

"Hm?"

"Both Winchesters are sleeping with a Novak tonight."

Dean's eyes widen, "Wait, WHAT?"

A/N: Castiel, breaking news gently since 2008. Omg two months for filler. So I gave you sharing a bed. It's not enough, sorry. Also sorry it took so long. Just got my own place, got a job at walmart that takes up pretty much all of my time, and had a hardcore writers block. Next chapter will be useful. I promise. It will also hopefully be sooner.


	10. Family Matters but so do friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Novaks talk about the Winchesters Castiel refuses to believe they are collecting (although they totally are)

Textbooks and LARPing

Chapter Ten: Family Matters but so do friends

Castiel wakes up around two in the afternoon. Not because his internal clock told him to, no, it was more the feeling of an arm coming crashing down on his back.

Opening his eyes he sees the offender is a very not awake Dean. Taking a second, he remembers the night before…and technically that morning. An awful dinner with his dad, being kicked out of his place, watching a terrible horror movie, watching an admittedly good yet painful TV show called something with thrones in it…and…telling Dean their brothers are sleeping together.

Clearly he was on a roll yesterday.

Castiel grimaces at the feeling of another person's limb on him, not used to the feeling and not entirely sure if he likes it. He should wake him up, but no doubt that will lead to Dean heading out and murdering Gabriel. There's a fair chance his father will not look so kindly on a friend of Castiel's murdering his own son. Or murdering period.

Actually, he is not entirely sure of his father's thoughts on murder.

Seems like a moral grey area with him.

Still, he has to choose between an arm on his back for who knows how long, and losing a brother. Clearly this is all lose-lose for him.

However, one choice is clearly worse.

The arm.

"Dean, wake up. You're crushing me."

Immediately bright green eyes shoot open, staring into Castiel's.

"You're brother's a dead man."

Sometimes it's a curse to be correct.

"Or," Castiel counters as the arm raises off of him, "You could accept their mutual attraction towards each other and let it go."

"Do I look like Elsa to you? I'm not letting this shit go!" Dean huffs and Castiel just looks at him blankly.

Who is Elsa? A girl from a class?

More likely someone from a movie or TV show, since Dean is so fond of referencing those.

"Yes, well, Elsa let it go…so…perhaps you should take a page from her book." Castiel offers, feeling proud of himself for rolling with a reference.

"Elsa had her younger sister's fiancé sent to jail, technically…" Dean begins and Castiel sits up.

"Forget Elsa, she is clearly not a good example for this situation. Also, Sam is of age. You have no legal actions you can take against my brother."

"Sammy is just a kid, Cas!" The older man argues, but Castiel doesn't even pay attention to his point. No, like any mature man he is fixated on the nickname Dean seems to have just given him.

"Cas?"

"What? Don't like it?"

Castiel shakes his head, "No, it's actually the first nickname I might like…"

Dean gives him a small smile before realizing something and glaring at him. "You!"

"Me?"

"You! Don't try and act all cute-

"Cute?"

"-And change the subject! You kept it a secret! You said all that nice stuff last night about wanting to see me but in reality you were sexiled and had no choice but to come here!" Dean fumes, looking genuinely hurt.

"First of all, sexiled is not a real word. How are all of you so familiar with it?" Castiel asks before looking Dean straight in the eyes, "And secondly, I did not have to come here. I could have went to Balthazar's, or Michael's, or Lucifer's. I chose here because I truly did want to see you. I may omit truths, but I do not say anything that is untrue."

Dean calms down a little, settling on a pout. "I'm still gonna kick your brother's ass."

"That is acceptable, so long as he is alive at the end." Castiel concedes. "I'm not happy with him either. He did break a promise with me, after all."

"You've got a bit of a vindictive streak in you, huh?" Dean smirks, "Good to know."

"If you break a promise, there are consequences."

"Well then," Dean begins, getting dressed, "I will just kick his…" The threat is cut off by Castiel's ringtone.

"Oh, it appears it's safe to return home." He says, getting up from the bed, "I suppose I will see you at a later time."

Before Dean can say anything, he hears the front door close and the teen is gone. "Huh. I wonder if this is what it feels like the morning after…? God damnit why do I keep thinking that kind of shit about Cas?" He groans before climbing back in bed and setting up his laptop. Today is not the day he will kick the shit out of Gabriel, but that sure as hell doesn't mean he can't do it to some slightly less deserving orcs.

They'd probably sleep with Sammy, too, if given the chance.

Fucking perverts. All over the place.

…Should have gotten Sammy a chastity belt when he had the chance.

As Dean whines to Charlie about Sam's chastity, Castiel arrives home and sees Gabriel sitting at the table, an array of Castiel's favorite foods spread across the table. "…Is this your idea of an apology?"

"I slipped."

"And your penis landed in my friend?" The younger brother asks, making Gabriel laugh a little before looking at him guiltily.

"I really, really didn't mean to…"

Castiel shakes his head, "You just could not help yourself, which is not surprising and really I would not mind…had it not been after seeing father." He looks at Gabriel, and his face must be more pathetic than he thought because his brother's expression drops to pure shame.

"Oh god, Castiel…did something happen?"

"He knows of Dean…and he knows of the porn incident…and he is not impressed…Michael is going to try and smooth it over but he wishes for me to 'save' Dean…to appease father."

Gabriel laughs a little, "Of course he does."

Castiel pouts, "I do not find it funny, Gabriel, how am I to do something like that?"

"You aren't, Cassie, he doesn't need saving. Do what you want."

"Yes, because that works out so well in our family." He blurts out, instantly regretting it when the room goes silent. It's no secret Gabriel is basically disowned for his choices.

"You're the most gentle of us all…but in the end I guess you still inherited the Novak tongue." Gabriel laughs a bit.

"I did not mean…"

"It's alright. I know you didn't meant it like that. You have every right not to want this life. It's not great."

Castiel frowns and sits on the couch, "I fear Dean will be the end of my relationship with our family…"

"Is it worth that?" Gabriel asks, "Just how much do you like Dean?"

The teen falls silent, thinking about it. He likes Dean…but he loves his family more.

Right?

Of course. He doesn't even love Dean, he just…tolerates-to-likes him.

No, that's not right. Castiel fought for Dean, is making Michael put in a good word for Dean…he even slept with Dean in a way. Twice. He's never shared a bed with anyone. Or slept on a person before. Not to mention he's found himself eagerly awaiting their weird dinners together in the library. Sam calls them dinner dates. Gabriel calls them four play. Neither is accurate, but they are still important to him.

If they were gone would he be alright with it? Dean probably wouldn't. Retaliation would be imminent.

It hasn't been long but Castiel is pretty sure he is too accustomed to Dean's presence now. Almost like…

"I need Dean…?" Castiel whispers before realizing he said it out loud and turning to his brother horrified, "I did not just say that."

"Oh but you did. You totally did." Gabriel smirks, "I didn't realize you needed Dean. That's pretty intense. Some serious shit."

"It is not like that," Castiel groans. "I don't need him, it was just a train of thought. It's 'like' I need him but I do not need him that is just…"

"Cassie, Cassie…" Gabriel sighs, coming up and resting his hand on Castiel's shoulder, "I just want you to realize something."

"Realize what?" Castiel asks and Gabriel's smirk grows wider.

"That's the gayest thing that I've heard in a while, and I had gay sex last night." He says, "Loud gay sex." Gabriel teases, laughing to himself until a pillow is slammed into his face. Hard.

"I am not interested in Dean as you are Sam. When we slept together last night it was strictly sleep."

"Yeaahhh…..but…you've slept with that Winchester twice, I've only slept with mine once."

Castiel gives him a blank stare. "You had intimate physical relations."

"…I seem to remember a certain picture of a certain Novak straddling a sleeping Winchester….and it wasn't me and Sammy." Gabriel points out.

"I-! You-! I mean the-! The-! The penetrating sort of…intimate physical relations…" Castiel mumbles and Gabriel bursts into laughter. "Also, I would like it on the record that you referring to it like we have a matching pair of Winchesters is disturbing. The Novak's are not collecting Winchesters."

"Could be."

"But we're not." Castiel pauses, "Well, I'm not." He looks to Gabriel sadly, "I just don't want to lose them…"

"God damn it don't look at me like that, Cassie." Gabriel groans before sitting beside Castiel and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, "We'll think of something so you won't lose them, or dad and Mr. perfect."

"His name is Michael."

"Whatever. Perfect pain in my ass."

A/N: I am absolute shit sorry for my lameness and people probably already stopped reading this but yeah here is a shitty update. My bunnies had babies and I was busy keeping them alive for the longest time and then the holidays came at work and THAT was crazy....The next chapter will have stuff happen. Think of this as...laying...down...more ground work. So to speak. Totally not filler. Nooooo. Nnnnoooooooooooooooo two brothers just talking for an entire chapter isn't filler at all.


	11. Nerds use too many acronyms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean needs a favor and Castiel reluctantly agrees

Dean heads down the courtyard of his campus when he receives an urgent text from Charlie telling him to meet her and Kevin in the small wooded area behind the library around 2. They don't usually ask to meet up in public -even shady parts of public- on campus, so it's clearly serious. He shoots her a text assuring her he will be there and heads off to his next class.

After class Dean oh-so-subtly hauls ass to the spot she said and sees a very panicked Charlie and Kevin waiting for him.

"What happened?"

"Seven of the members of our kingdom for this weekend's LARP have cancelled!" Kevin explains and Charlie crosses her arms.

"Like grades and girlfriends are more important than keeping my beautiful kingdom safe. Rude little bastards."

Dean groans, "You brought me here because of that? Damnit, I thought someone was dying!"

"We will die! Our army is too short now, no one will take us seriously!" Kevin argues and Dean frowns. It's true. They need at least three more members to make a true army.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Dean asks, "You two are the only ones who know I do this. I'm not going to out myself to get more people for one weekend."

"Well…if memory serves me correctly…we're not the only two who know…" Charlie begins, a mischievous look in her eyes that he sure as shit is not comfortable with. "A little dork by the name of Castiel happens to know as well. Castiel who you have been getting pretty chummy with, what with the dinner dates and sleeping together."

"It's not-! Don't word it like that! Damnit I'm not telling you guys anything anymore, you twist it into something perverted."

"Well, I mean, did you two not sleep together?" Charlie asks.

"Twice?" Kevin adds.

"Twice!" Charlie emphasizes and Dean glares.

"Only sleep. Just sleep. Nothing else. And we don't have dinner dates!"

"You have a specific day every week where you meet up and have dinner alone with each other." Kevin points out, "Sounds pretty date-y."

"Certainly the date-y-est thing our little Dean here has done."

"No doubt Castiel as well." Kevin adds.

"You two are the devils."

"Just one weekend. Get him to join us. Maybe Sammy, too. Then we only need one more." Charlie urges and Dean sighs.

"Fine, whatever, I don't care if he joins…but he likes you guys, too, you know. Why do I have to call him? It's not like he lives in my ass." He argues before feeling something bump into him from behind, seeing a completely oblivious Castiel with his face in a book. "Damnit, Cas, get out of my ass!"

Castiel looks up highly confused at whatever is going on in front of him, "But I was never in your-" He stops himself when Dean raises a brow. Clearly he came up at the wrong time. Although, looking around, Castiel is not entirely sure where exactly he ended up. Going by the looks everyone is giving him, Castiel settles on remaining silent.

"Castiel! Just the one I wanted to see!" Charlie exclaims and Castiel is even more confused.

"I am?"

"You are! Dean, ask him!"

"Damnit, Charlie, why do I have to?" Dean groans, looking at Castiel with a strangely defeated look. Like he doesn't want to see Castiel right now.

That hurts a little.

"I feel I should go…" Castiel begins and Charlie stands in front of him.

"No! No! We have a huge favor to ask of you! Apparently Dean is too chicken shit to ask it, though, so I will!" She takes Castiel's hand and looks him dead in the eyes. "Would you-?"

"Are you fucking proposing to him? Jesus."

"Shut up Dean," Charlie groans, "Will you please join us this weekend…for a LARP game?"

Castiel looks at them all extremely confused, "Lar…p…? What…is that? Is it like WOW? Why do all of your games have acronyms?"

"It's for Life Action Role Playing. It's what you saw us doing the day we met." Dean mumbles and Castiel frowns.

"Oh…um…I'd rather…not…" He begins and Kevin comes out of nowhere to stand beside him.

"We're short members, if you don't join us all of our hard work will be ruined!"

"I do not see how that is my problem." Castiel says, moving to sidestep everyone when Dean looks at him.

"We…could really use your help. You wouldn't have to do too much. But, if you really don't want to-"

"I'll do it." Castiel says almost immediately, surprising himself. Dean clearly doesn't want to make him join, but actually needs him there, so it would not kill him to go just once. "Just once." He emphasizes. "If it happens again, find other people."

"Castiel, you're the best!" Charlie pats him on the back before heading away, "Kevin and I will get going, don't want Dean to be caught with us."

As they leave, Castiel hears Kevin whisper something to Dean about being 'so wrong' on some matter and soon it is just Castiel and Dean. "Well, I will take my leave as well." Castiel says, raising his book up, "I'm in the middle of a chapter due at the end of the week, so…"

"…Is that…is that a big book on embalming…?" Dean asks and Castiel nods, "And that's what had you in such a zone you crashed into me?" The teen nods again, "Jesus, you are such a-!"

"Do not take the lord's name in vain, Dean!" Castiel huffs, "You're a grown man, find a better way to show annoyance."

Dean looks at him surprised, "Um…sorry? So why did you only do it when I asked, by the way?"

"Such a master at segues…" Castiel mocks before shrugging, "I do not know them, but I know you would not ask something unless you really needed it. Especially since you were so reluctant to ask in the first place." He bites his lips for a second before speaking again, "I cannot leave my friend when he needs something."

Dean blushes a little and scratches the back of his head awkwardly, "Um…yeah…that'd make you a pretty shitty friend." He laughs awkwardly and Castiel nods.

"That it would." The teen begins to back up, "But I was serious, I need to get back to my studies. Since tonight is our dinner-

"It's not a date!" Dean yells and Castiel gives him an odd look.

"…No…it's not…but since that is tonight…you can fill me in on this…LARP thing."

"Oh, right, yeah. Sounds good. Chinese food and LARP tutoring. I'm sure you'll catch on quick."

"I'm sure I will, I'm a fast learner." Castiel says before leaving an oddly flustered Dean in favor of the never flustered (because it's a building but that is beside the point) library.

At the set time of their weekly dinner meeting, Dean arrives at Castiel's usual table with food, a laptop, and many papers. It slightly reminds him of when Dean was trying to 'culture' him on nerd activities not so long ago.

"Hey Cas!" Dean sits down, sprawling out papers and their shared Chinese before opening his laptop. "Are you ready to learn from the sexiest tutor alive?"

"Sure," Castiel says, wrapping some lo mein around his fork and looking to Dean, "When are they arriving?" He asks before shoving the food in his mouth. It still amazes Dean that such a prim and proper kid can eat like a monster when he's comfortable enough.

"Wow, rude Cas. Way to be a dick."

"I'm a Novak," The teen says between chewing, "It's in our blood. Just be glad I'm not as bad as Gabriel…or heaven forbid Lucifer…"

"Hey, whoa, wait, back the fuck up. You have a brother named Lucifer? Like, I know they went with an angel theme but the fallen angel? Really?"

"It's not his birth name. He was born Lucas, named after our grandfather. Then he grew up, joined a band, and legally changed his name to Lucifer." Castiel explains, "Gabriel likes to refer to him as a 'big bag of dicks'."

Dean gawks at the oblivious teen as he continues eating, "Wait…you…you're related to Lucifer? The singer Lucifer? Most popular male singer in the world right now, Lucifer? Why the hell didn't you tell me you had something so cool going for you?"

Castiel pouts a little, "I would think the level of cool I bring on my own is enough."

"It's not, zero is not enough cool, Cas." He teases, earning a harsh shove from the teen.

"It's enough cool to earn me you as a stalker."

"Why does everyone keep saying I stalked you? I never followed yo…" Dean goes silent, remembering a day when he did in fact follow him to figure out where one of his classes was.

It wasn't his fault. It was for pranks.

"Just tutor me, already." Castiel sighs and Dean perks up again, pulling out a list of names from his mess of papers.

"Okay, so this is a roster of everyone in our kingdom. I have a roster of the other team as well but we will start with ours. First is Charlie, she's the queen of the kingdom. Recently her girlfriend Dorothy joined our kingdom as a knight, and the queen's lover."

"How scandalous." Castiel mutters, half listening.

"She killed her king, so yeah, it's all pretty scandalous."

"Were it truly the medieval times she would have been killed immediately upon his death."

"Not necessarily. Queen Catherine did fine." Dean points out, remembering the queen from some obscure history class he took freshman year.

Castiel goes silent for a moment before looking to him, "I do not believe she killed him."

"Well some Queen Catherine killed her husband."

"Catherine I had a husband who died naturally, and Catherine the Great's husband was killed by someone who could not be connected to the Queen." Castiel points out, "Either way that was long after your game takes place."

"Could you…could you just…?" Dean groans, "This is not historically accurate, it has fucking orcs you dweeb."

"I believe the grown man playing fantasy in the woods is more of the dweeb."

"Ugh, whatever, just listen for five minutes without saying something smart. I am in charge of the army, of course. No one knows who I actually am though, and as far as they know you don't either."

"What will I be?"

"Probably a chamber maid, and we'll move the actual chamber maid to the army for the weekend." Dean explains and Castiel pales.

"Wait…the weekend…as in more than one day?"

"Yeah, we spend the night out there in our camps…you…um…you look a little horrified right now Cas…"

"I have to sleep out in the woods?" Castiel asks and Dean nods.

"What's wrong? Never camped before?"

"Of course not!"

Dean smirks at the panicked look on the teen's face, "I guess this weekend is gonna be all kinds of firsts for you then, isn't it?"

A/N: Sooo I have an editor-ish now. She doesn't check the grammar or anything but she gives me deadlines and tells me what I have to work on.

Friends can be so damn pushy. Anyways, apparently I will be updating next sunday. Or I will be killed.


	12. Badassdom is not a real kingdom, are you guys even trying, Dean?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel arrives at the LARP
> 
> He is not impressed.

Castiel follows Dean through the field full of tents, jousts, and horses. He must admit they do put in a lot of effort for these. Especially Dean, with his elaborate armor and unbelievably well made mask. A heavy mask. Castiel knows because he handed it to the man earlier that day and it was at least three pounds.

"All of the women are wearing battle appropriate clothing this time." Castiel observes and Dean nods, whispering in his ear.

"It's a different larp than the last time." He explains, as Castiel tries not to shiver at the weird feeling.

"Oh."

"Yeah, here Charlie is queen of the moon kingdom. We fight against shadow orcs, mostly. Uniting with the elves and whatnot to bring the orcs down." Dean adds, his voice muffled by the helmet, giving it an even lower tone. It's almost like Castiel is talking with a stranger.

A powerful stranger leading him through a foreign land, protecting him at all costs despite his low position in-

Wait

What?

Castiel cringes and shakes his head no, shooting a glare at Dean involuntarily.

"Whoa, what's going on, buddy? Pissed you have to do this?"

"It's not that." He mutters as Dean leads him into a very well made tent with an authentic feeling to the clutter inside. Admittedly he is relieved this is the group he has to larp with.

"Ready to get dressed?" Dean asks, pulling clothes out of a trunk at the foot of a bed. "You'll be staying in my place for the weekend. It's only got the one bed but I'm sure you can rough it."

Castiel gives him an unamused look before he begins wrestling with his outfit. There's buttons, chainmail, and other things he is not entirely familiar with. "D-Dean!" He whines, struggling in his shirt, unable to find his way out.

Dean laughs a little, "Easy, tiger, I'll help you out."

A pair of hands are suddenly all over Castiel and before he knows it he's dressed in the odd clothing, staring at Dean in awe. "Thank you, Dean…"

"No problem. Also, from here on out, no more Dean. I am Dorian, head knight of the moon kingdom's army."

"Huh…who…am I…?" Castiel asks and Dean shrugs.

"Whoever you want to be."

The teen stares at him blankly. What is he going to use?

"Cassius. It is the closest in name to me that I can think of."

Dean laughs a little, "Sounds good," He says before opening the tent and leading Castiel out.

As soon as they step out, however, a man with long blond hair sporting a bow and sack of arrows comes up. "Dorian, we need you in the meeting. We must prepare for battle with the orcs…" His eyes wander over to Castiel, not-so-subtly looking him over with scrutiny. "Who is this?

"Cassius. He is a new member, a handmaiden of the queen." Dean explains and the man nods.

"Is he your…?" The man asks, breaking character for a split second when he gives Dean a certain look, making Castiel uncomfortable.

He is here to help even out the numbers, not be asked out by a strange man who played at being and elf in his spare time. Although from what he has seen, in the grand list of characters for this game, elves would be his preference.

"He is a friend. An aid for the weekend to even out the numbers. Two more shall be coming as well. Another soldier and a wizard." Dean explains, the pain at mentioning the wizard obvious in his voice.

Why?

Well because said wizard is Gabriel, of course.

Castiel made sure to rope him and Sam in as well, because, come on, he's not going to suffer this alone. He might be a Christian but he is no saint.

"I see. My name is Leland." The man says and Castiel wonders if that is his real name. Probably not. Charlie seems to be the only one who uses her real name here.

"It is nice to meet you, I am Cassius." Castiel shakes the man's hand as Dean looks on slightly annoyed.

"Yes, well, Cassius needs to report to the queen, so I will be leading him to the meeting. Thank you for the message, Leland." Dean says, taking Castiel's arm a little roughly and pulling him towards a grand looking tent.

"D-…orian…was I wrong…or was that man hitting on me?" Castiel asks and Dean tenses up, looking to him with a serious gaze.

"Look, Cassius, the people here are very open to any and all genders for…sex." Dean explains, his gaze now anywhere but Castiel, "Don't…just don't do anything with any of them. They are only looking for flings."

"I was not interested anyways, Dorian…" Castiel says, the name feeling odd. Why must they hide their identities? They all like the same thing, surely there is nothing to be ashamed of with one another.

He gives Dean a sympathetic look, feeling the worst for him. Others no doubt give one another their names, become friends outside, but Dean does not give himself that chance. The man refuses to open himself up to any chance of ridicule.

Yet here is Castiel, out in the open, risking his reputation, all for Dean. Well, he is actually risking far more than reputation by being with Dean, but that is an entirely different hopeless situation.

They arrive inside the tent to see Charlie, her girlfriend Dorothy by her side as she commands her troupes.

Castiel sort of fades in and out of her game plan, focusing more on the commands she gives him specifically; lay out her weapons, battle armor, grab refreshments. Still, he understands the basics of Charlie's plan, which is attack the orcs from the rear as the elves attack from the front. Their powers will enable them to take more out easier, giving distraction for the human soldiers to come and guarantee the joint victory.

He does not really care, but it seems like a decent enough strategy.

"Cassie!" Gabriel whispers from the other side of the tent, a large grin on his face as his brother awkwardly shuffles over to him.

"Yes?"

"This is ridiculous!" The older Novak says with a large grin on his face, clearly enjoying himself. "I can't believe I'm doing this, just to earn brownie points towards sex."

Castiel sighs heavily. He knows Sam and Gabriel's relationship, but that doesn't mean he wants to discuss his brother having sex with his friend.

"Be nice, you know how much this means to him." He whispers, gesturing towards Dean.

"Ah, yes, Dorian. What are you going by? I am Beelzebub. They fought me on it at first but sort of gave up after a half hour." Gabriel laughs, "Amateurs."

Castiel rolls his eyes, "My name in this game is Cassius. What is Sam's?"

"Moose." Gabriel says proudly and Castiel cringes.

"Did you…did you choose his name?"

"Of course!"

"And they…allowed it?"

"That was after Beelzebub. They were already broken."

Castiel sighs, "Poor Sam…and everyone who had to deal with you…"

"Alright, everyone!" Charlie says, louder to obviously gain the Novak brothers' attention. "I will be sending you off to gather strength, weapons, and potions. All will go in groups. My captain Dorian shall take the new people; Cassius the chamber maid, Beelzebub the wizard and…Moose…the…soldier…" She mutters, giving Sam an apologetic look, "He will also take the healer Kieran."

Castiel looks confused for a moment before Charlie gestures towards Kevin, which answers one question, but he was more curious as to why a chambermaid is going out into battle. They are to stay in the tents and tend to the queen, at least that is what Dean assured him.

After Charlie has finished doling out the rest of the assignments, Castiel goes up to her and asks for an elaboration on the chambermaid role.

"Well normally you would stay…but…these orcs are sort of…ruled by our previous king." Charlie says awkwardly.

"The king you killed…?" Castiel asks and Charlie nods.

"When you are killed in story rather than just in gaining experience, you lose your current status and character." She explains, "However you can return as a new character. The guy had a big following and so when he-"

"Got murdered by you," Castiel supplies and Charlie laughs a little.

"Yeah, when he was murdered by me he decided to join the orc kingdom. In it he started his own story of corruption and murder to rise the ranks. Now he is the orc king, who was the previous human king's long lost brother out to avenge his death. I know, totally overplayed, but here we are." Charlie says, "So anyways because he's super bitter and super pissed at me we need all the manpower we can get. So you will be going. I don't need a chambermaid anyways." She motions to Dorothy, "Not when I have a wife."

"Watch it." Said 'wife' warns.

"I see. You need manpower because a child did not get their way." Castiel says and Charlie laughs.

"I mean, yeah, basically. Anyways, the battle is tomorrow, today is the day we go out and have little quests and mini fights, building up our levels and gaining new weapons and other loot. Tomorrow is the real 'story'. Anyone who dies today, or any minor soldier in battle tomorrow, does not lose rank as they do not have their own stories yet. So if you die you will be fine, but if Dorian dies he will lose his character."

"So what you're saying is I must ensure he makes it these next two days without losing his character." Castiel clarifies and Charlie nods.

"Technically only tomorrow. Today is for fun!" She grins before returning to her queen-like demeanor. "Now, go forth chambermaid and aid my valiant captain in his quest."

Castiel raises a brow and simply nods before leaving the tent to meet up with his group. "So do we…get weapons?" He asks Dean who looks away guiltily.

"Well…level one characters…only get a small dagger…you have to win battles to take their weapons and level up as well." Dean explains before looking to Gabriel, "Wizards just learn a new spell with each level. Right now you should have been given the powder for an ice spell."

The older Novak holds up a pouch with the same grin still present. "Got it, captain." He says, with no small hint of mockery in the title.

"Now I am relying on all of you to move up the ranks and be of use to me tomorrow in the battle. I have no intentions of dying." Dean looks to all of them, and although his face cannot be seen through the helmet, the intensity of his eyes can.

An intensity that catches Castiel off guard.

And gets him shot by a god damn arrow.

"Oh." Castiel says, turning and picking up the foam arrow, "Did I die?" He asks Dean before Kevin is over to him, grabbing his shoulders and pulling his shirt down below his shoulder blades dramatically.

"It will be ok, child. I will give you a potion to heal that wound." Kevin reaches into one of several pouches on his belt and puts a small dab of lotion on his shoulder where the arrow 'hit'.

"I am a level 10!" The Elf boasts, "A simply healing lotion will not save him!"

Kevin scoffs, "Come now, pretty boy, I am a level 20. My spit would be enough to save him from your wounds."

The elf seethes a little, pouting as a child playing pretend pouts when the other one says they dodged.

Castiel, as per the course today, is confused. "I thought…the elves and humans were friends."

"Just because we must fight together tomorrow, does not mean we shall be friends today!" The elf yells, flipping Kevin off before Dean comes out of nowhere behind him and pretends to slash his throat.

"Nobody harms my men." Dean practically growls out and the boy in front of him just grumbles and falls to the floor, pretending to be dead.

The eldest Winchester's demeanor would honestly pass for attractive, if it were not for the painfully nerdy situation.

"Keep your eyes peeled, chambermaid." Dean commands and Castiel simply rolls his eyes.

"As you wish, Captain." After he says this, much to his aggravation, another arrow comes from nowhere and hits him square in the forehead.

He makes sure to give Dean the bitterest look when the man begins to speak to chastise him again.

Needless to say the captain stays silent as Kevin places some lotion on the spot, trying not to laugh.

Gabriel, however, does not extend the same courtesy.

It is only noon, with eight more hours to go for today alone before they retire for the night, and Castiel is already a pretty special kind of done.

A/N:Sooooo yeah....it has been half a year. I got really busy moving into a new place with someone and then, you know, adult life. Anyways I finally settled in so I am going to try and update this more. Not making any promises this time. I will finish this story...I just...can't give a date for that. Because I'm an asshole. Also I know literally nothing about LARPing. Picking up some stuff from the movie The Knights of Badassdom and just fucking made up the rest. We will pretend it's accurate.


	13. I wish I could quit this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The author is a shit person and Dean finally snatches the POV for some important shit

It has been seven hours of this LARPing stuff and so far Castiel has gone up ten levels, which is apparently impressive. Although he wasn't going to actually try but every time someone hit him with a weapon the others laughed at him so he finally had enough and took initiative. He did actually pay attention when Dean tutored him over their dinner the other day, so it wasn't too hard. After a few spars with some elves and orcs, not to mention saving a damsel in distress, he's actually a few levels from being a knight. 

Something he doesn't really want to be, since this is the only time he's going to play this. 

Right now though it is not him fighting, but Dean sparring with an orc. He must admit that the way Dean battles is very... 

Good? 

Efficient? 

…..Attractive? 

It gets the job done. Well. 

It isn't boring to watch, either. 

Despite the full body armor Castiel can still see his eyes, he watches as they go a darker green when the opponent is a true threat, and sees them brighten every time he wins. His body also moves so elegantly sometimes that Castiel feels he is watching a choreographed play. 

Then he realizes to a lesser extent he kind of is and becomes less impressed with the movement. As well as literally every single thing Dean has done today. 

Finally the orc seems to look over in Castiel's direction and become distracted, so Dean takes them out. The orc grumbles under their breath before looking back to Castiel and removing their mask to reveal a very handsome person. He would say man, but that doesn't seem quite right. Neither does woman. 

"Hey there. I'm Dylan." They say and Castiel becomes confused. 

"That doesn't seem like a name for this era..." He looks to Dean who rolls his eyes. 

"It's their real name, idiot." 

"Oh. Hello, Dylan. I'm Castiel." Castiel politely returns the greeting and Dylan smiles. 

"Hey, yeah, so...what are you up to after the training today? We've only got about half an hour left." 

"Dorian and I are returning to his tent. I imagine Beelzebub and Moose have a tent together as well they will be returning too, and Kieran is...?" Castiel looks to Kevin curiously and he just laughs. 

"Dylan doesn’t give a shit what I'm doing afterwards," He teases. 

"It's true, I don’t." Dylan admits, standing up and leaving their orc head on the ground before going to Castiel, "So you are going to be spending the night with Dorian?" 

"Well, yes. It seems to have become a fairly popular pastime for me." Castiel says and Dylan sighs sadly. 

"I guess a gross orc can't compete with the supposedly handsome head knight." 

"He's certainly not ugly," Castiel admits and the blush that creeps up to Dean's cheeks can even be seen through his helmet, "But I don't see how his looks..." 

"Dylan is into you, Cas, jesus!" Dean finally snaps. "Dylan thinks you're with me, which he isn't, he's just a naïve idiot. I don't see you getting far with someone like him, Dylan." He fumes and Castiel frowns. 

"There is no need to be so rude, Dorian." Castiel looks to Dylan, "My apologies, I was unaware you were flirting. I am not dating Dorian, we are simply friends. However, I also have no real interest in dating anyone, so I must still decline in a romantic entanglement. If you would like to be friends that would be wonderful, but I can give you nothing more." 

Dylan laughs a little, "I never thought I'd feel like the lesser of two nerds before." They tease before gently nudging Castiel's shoulder with their fist, "It's cool, dude. We can be friends. I'll give you my cell and we can hang out some time." 

Castiel smiles and writes his own number on some paper they have with them before giving it to Dylan and taking their number. "I will see you another time, then." 

"You'll see me tomorrow," Dylan grins, "I'll try to be gentle but I can't make any promises." They say with a wink before heading off. 

"Wow, little Cassie made some more nerd friends. Of course I'm still kind of shocked Dorian over here is one," Gabriel notices Dean tense up, "But I'll keep your secret valiant knight." He teases and Sam rolls his eyes. 

"There is nothing wrong with nerds, Gabe. Besides, you're pretty into this too so I don't wanna hear it." 

"You're damn right I am! People are calling me Beelzebub and I get to 'kill' people with the flick of a wrist. What's not to love?" Gabriel looks to Dean with a grin, "I totally get it now." 

Dean groans, "I doubt it," He looks to Castiel and the teen can practically see his frown in the helmet, "We only have time to go back to camp now, so come on. We'll grab some food from the feast and head to our tent." 

Castiel becomes nervous at the idea. A tent. Camping. He's never been camping before. They all grab their food, say goodnight, and go to their own tents to eat. Once they arrive, Dean ushers him to sit on the floor with him as Castiel looks around. It's not small, obviously not as small as a normal camping tent, and they have a real bed in here so he supposes it isn't all bad. 

Until something moves on the ground beneath the bottom of the tent. 

"DEAN!" He yells, clamoring over to the other man to see the outline of a snake under the tent's fabric, "Why is there a _snake_?" 

"Because...this is nature...?" Dean offers as he holds Castiel off from climbing on his shoulders. 

"But....this is a busy area, snakes should be far away from here." Castiel says in a panicked hurry before abandoning his food and Dean to go on the bed. 

"You know..." Dean begins, watching the teen look at the floor in horror, "A little snake won't hurt you, princess." He teases, enjoying the offended pout from the teen. 

Of course Dean knows Castiel doesn't want to be here, neither does Sam. In fact the only other person who seemed truly excited was Gabriel, whom Castiel and Sam had to practically force Dean to allow in on his secret. He still has yet to kick Gabriel's ass, so they made an agreement that as long as he never breathed a word of any of this to others, he would not get as close to murdering Gabriel as legally possible. 

Still, despite their disinterest in coming, Dean is so glad they did. It's nice having an entire group of people you really know in a LARP game. Honestly everything is more fun when he brings Castiel. He's been spending a lot of time with the boy lately and has in fact been toying with the idea of bringing him out with his popular friends. Maybe to a movie, or dinner, or something. 

A party is still too much, and he's not too sure if Castiel could handle even a dinner or movie, all he knows is he wants Castiel to be involved in all of the aspects of his life. He has been oddly attached to Castiel from day one, unable to get him out of his head for one reason or another and being with him today, enjoying the thing he loves most, Dean has realized a few things he is not happy about. 

One, he does not like sharing Castiel with potential new friends. 

Two, Castiel's intelligence and capability are extremely impressive. 

Three, the guy is kinda cute once he finally lets his guard down. 

Four, the idea of Castiel dating someone pisses him off. A lot. He doesn't want to share him with some lover. Those sleepovers where they curl up together on the couch or in his bed matter so much to him now, if he had it his way those would be as much a regular activity as their dinners. 

Not that he'll ever admit it. 

Honestly he doesn't like to think about it. He knows his feelings for Castiel are not normal for friendship, but he sure as shit is not going to admit to more than that. Not even to himself. There was a moment where he thought about confessing, so he joked around with Castiel a little and got shot down. Hard. At the last sleepover they had he knew damn well it was nothing more than friendship for Castiel and so he's decided to drop it. Ignore it and not face it. 

That's what Winchesters do with hopeless situations. 

It's completely healthy. 

Conceal, don't feel, that sorta shit. 

"Anyways, you can bring your food up to the bed if you want, princess." Dean teases and Castiel huffs, but does it anyways. 

"Do you enjoy camping?" Castiel asks, "Did you do it a lot as a kid?" 

"Well, yeah, I camped a lot as a kid. When mom was alive it was big family camping trips. Sammy wasn’t even a year old when she died so he never got to go on those, which sucks for him." 

"Did you go after your mother passed away?" 

"The camping trips with just dad were survival training." Dean explains, "After mom was killed in a house fire, dad became paranoid and kinda focused on making sure we could fend for ourselves because he believed the apocalypse was coming. Well, he still does. So yeah, with mom it was barbeques and swimming and ghost stories, with dad is was going to butt-fuck nowhere and being left by him for three nights with nothing but a knife, tent, and sleeping bags." He looks over to Castiel, who now looks surprised. 

"I did not realize..." 

"Yeah, well, you Novak boys don’t own daddy issues." Dean jokes, "I don’t really tell people about it so keep it to yourself, ok?" 

"Of course." Castiel nods, grabbing his food and sitting back down on the floor next to Dean. 

It's shit like this that makes it hard to just accept they will only be friends. Castiel is so easy to talk to, to open up to. He never judges, only sympathizes, and while he still isn't great at the whole emotional stuff, Dean isn't either and they seem to have found a pretty good balance between the two of them. 

Took a while, though. 

"So, Cas, you gonna call Dylan when we get home?" Dean asks and Castiel shrugs, using his knife and fork to cut a piece of meat off his chicken leg. 

Seriously. 

Fucking princess. 

"I do not know, honestly." Castiel admits, "Friends are a lot of work. I find it easier to let them come to me." He says before shoving the chicken into his mouth. 

"Huh, now that you mention it, they really do come to you don't they?" Dean laughs, "Me, Sam, no doubt that other guy." 

"Balthazar, yes, he bugged me until I caved as a child. Sort of like you but much nicer." 

"Oh? What did the little playboy do to befriend you?" 

Castiel thinks for a minute, "We were little, but I remember lots of flowers and toys from him. You did pranks, he did gifts." 

Dean can feel his smile twitch slightly, "Ah, so he was trying to date you..." 

"No, no..." Castiel shakes his head, "That is just how Balthazar is. He gets people with kindness." He looks to Dean blankly, "It's why he has a larger fanbase than you." 

"Whoa! Hey! I have a huge ass fanbase!" Dean defends and Castiel frowns. 

"If you insist." 

"Don’t condescend to me you little shit! You would know just how popular I am if you would hang out with me in public." 

"There is no need for name calling, and spending time with your public friends sounds exhausting." Castiel points out, placing his empty plate on a table, "Between the two of you, Balthazar is the kind of person who just approaches everyone sweetly, you're too emotionally stunted for that. There's nothing actually wrong with it, people still know you care." 

"With how dense you are I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to get you to be his boyfriend." Dean grumbles and Castiel looks to him confused, tilting his head slightly like he usually does when he truly doesn't understand something. Like some slight angle change is gonna make shit clear to him. 

It never does. 

"I have been noticing a pattern with you lately...you seem upset whenever someone is hitting on me." Castiel points out and Dean gets a little nervous, "Why is that?" 

"Because..." Dean groans, "Because you are literally the only friend who knows the real me that I don’t have to hang out with in secrecy because you have no true titles attached to you. Well, I mean, people know you are a huge book nerd and Poindexter but that's different. Spending time with you won't make people ridicule me. 

"If you started dating we wouldn’t be able to see each other much. I mean it's not like we spend every waking moment together but, you know, people who are dating tend to and I don't want to share this secret with anyone else. I didn’t wanna share it with you stupid brother, either, yet here we are. If you date, I lose you. Since I'm not going to be dating, it's not even like I can just pick up a chick and distract myself." 

"Well, you could for one night." Castiel points out and Dean gives him a dirty look. "Sorry." 

"I guess I just...I need you to be with me." Dean admits before getting a little panicky and quickly adding, "As a friend!" 

Castiel looks a little surprised for a second before smiling at him, "I need you as well," He admits, "As a friend." 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yes." 

"Wow." Dean mocks. 

"Wow as in your game or the wow that normal people use?" Castiel counters and Dean rolls his eyes. 

"Why the hell would I-? Jesus your jokes are lame." 

"Leave our savior out of this." 

"Oh my god." Dean groans. 

"Leave his father out of it as well."

A/N: So I'm a shitty person, I know this. Life keeps kicking my ass. Really hard. It technically still is but I'm on summer break from work so I can finally, you know, distract myself with writing. Sorry if it's shitty I literally have not written anything since I last updated this so I'm super rusty.


End file.
